The 110th Separate Mechanised Brigade named after Lt Gen Marko Bezruchko, which was deployed in Avdiyivka, said that the Russians had promised to evacuate the wounded Ukrainian soldiers who remained surrounded at the Zenit position with the possibility of exchanging them. Instead, the enemy shot Ukrainian prisoners of war.
The 110th Brigade made a statement on Facebook:
"Regarding the Zenit position.
The personnel of the 110th Brigade withdrew from Avdiyivka in the face of continuous bombardment by enemy aircraft and artillery, constant attacks by FPV drones, attacks on evacuation vehicles, and shelling of evacuation routes. Several seriously wounded and killed soldiers could not be evacuated.
The enemy was developing a rapid, large-scale offensive, leaving no chance for repeated attempts [for evacuation]. Due to the complete encirclement of the Zenit stronghold, it was decided to contact the coordination centre and organisations negotiating with the enemy on the exchange of prisoners to help our seriously wounded unarmed soldiers, in accordance with international rules of war and laws protecting prisoners of war.
The enemy informed the coordinators of this process that they agreed to evacuate our wounded and provide them with medical assistance, and then exchange them. Our soldiers were ordered to take care of themselves.
We learnt what happened next from enemy resources. In a video released by the enemy from the captured Zenit position, relatives identified Heorhiy Pavlov, Andriy Dubnytskyy and Ivan Zhytnyk as dead. According to our information, the enemy also shot dead Oleksandr Zinchuk and Mykola Savosik.
Information about the sixth soldier has not yet been confirmed, most likely he was from an assigned unit. The russian armed forces are terrorists and war criminals. The relevant authorities will investigate and establish the truth on the fact of violation of the laws and customs of war, combined with premeditated murder (part 2 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
We will give a worthy answer for the crimes against our military! We will take revenge for each of our tortured soldiers!" the brigade said.
Ukrainian Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets confirmed that Russians had shot dead six captured servicemen of one of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' mechanised brigades at a position in Avdiyivka.