During the fighting in late August near Pokrovsk, Russian troops executed three Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered, CNN reports.
The publication notes that this "is part of a pattern of summary executions that has increased this year".
Ukrainian intelligence provided the publication with a list of 15 such cases since November. Most of them have video and audio evidence obtained with the help of drones.
Ukraine's Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said that prosecutors are currently investigating 28 such incidents involving 62 dead Ukrainian servicemen.
Ukrainian prosecutors consider these killings to be war crimes and part of the Kremlin's organised policy.
"If prisoners of war surrender, if they show that they are surrendering, if they are unarmed, then shooting them without proper judgement is a war crime," Kostin commented.
He added that such crimes were committed in different regions of Ukraine by different units. Therefore, it can be argued that such a policy of the Kremlin can be qualified as crimes against humanity.
The Ukrainian interlocutor, who spoke about the Pokrovsk incident, also added that their unit is aware of numerous similar cases on the frontline.
However, there are other similar incidents. In particular, in Toretsk, three Ukrainian soldiers were executed in this way after they came out of the basement to surrender. The Donetsk regional prosecutor's office announced the opening of criminal proceedings over "violation of the laws and customs of war, combined with premeditated murder".
Also in Zaporizhzhya Region, in May this year, near the village of Robotyno, Russian troops ordered three Ukrainian soldiers to lie face down after seizing a dugout. Ukrainian intelligence provided CNN with audio recordings of intercepted orders from a Russian commander known as "Turk" to his subordinate on the "Maloy" field to kill the prisoners.
The Russians shot the Ukrainians as they emerged from the trench and lay face down.
Several Russian servicemen have been brought to trial on charges of such killings, including one in southern Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya Region. In particular, according to Ukrainian prosecutors, the crime was committed by a Russian who was released from serving a sentence for theft in November to serve in the 127th Motorised Rifle Division of the Russian Armed Forces. At that time, the prosecutor's office released drone footage confirming that a Russian soldier shot a Ukrainian soldier when he came out of a trench near Priyutne with his hands up and then knelt down.
According to the newspaper, some of the executions of Ukrainian soldiers are the subject of a UN investigation. An investigative source at the UN told CNN that some of the apparent executions of Ukrainian soldiers have been the subject of their review. "There are a lot of them. There is a pattern. It involves at least approval or orders to show no mercy," the source said, referring to the practice of killing prisoners.
Meanwhile, Ukraine insists that the systematic execution of Ukrainian soldiers on the battlefield constitutes genocide.