A new case of brutality falls on the war in Ukraine . This time it is the Russians who are calling the Ukrainians into question, accusing them of having cold-handedly executed ten soldiers who had surrendered .

As evidence, Moscow has shown some videos that have been making the rounds on social media, and the UN has announced that it is examining them.

No official comment from Kiev, but what happened is a further boulder on the already weak prospects for a truce. The first nine months of the conflict were marred by countless allegations of abuses and war crimes, starting with the executions of civilians by the Russians in Bucha . Furthermore, in recent days, the UN has published a report according to which prisoners on both sides have been subjected to torture and ill-treatment.

The new complaint came from the Moscow Defense Ministry, which spoke of a " deliberate and methodical murder of more than ten Russian soldiers taken prisoner with a blow to the head ". In one of the videos circulated on Russian-language social networks, some soldiers are seen surrendering to the troops with the Ukrainian flag and lying down on the ground in the courtyard of a bombed-out house. The pictures abruptly stop when shots are heard. Another video, taken from above, shows the apparently lifeless bodies with bloodstains.

The episode allegedly took place in Makiivka, a village in the eastern region of Lugansk reconquered in recent days by the Ukrainian army. Moscow has called for "an international investigation" warning that "Zelensky and his accomplices will be held responsible" and accusing Westerners of turning a blind eye to the abuses committed by the Ukrainians.

The United Nations Office for Human Rights (Ohchr) said it was examining the videos, clarifying that " allegations of summary executions should be promptly, fully and effectively investigated, and all perpetrators held accountable ".

In this phase the Westerners, above all the US, are putting pressure on Kiev to start considering a negotiation with Moscow and renounce the reconquest of Crimea. The Ukrainian answer remains ambiguous: "The war can end before the liberation of all the territories", said presidential adviser Mikhailo Podolyak, suggesting between the lines that the Ukrainians could be content with wresting a few other "big cities" of Donbass from the enemy , for example Lugansk.

Meanwhile , the population is on its last legs : rain, snow and ice are increasing almost everywhere in the country with temperatures dropping rapidly, down to -10 in the next few days, for a taste of winter which this year brings with it anguish of frost and darkness.

Ten million people "are without electricity" , announced the president Volodymyr Zelensky. That is half of the entire national user, which counts 21 million.

(Unioneonline/LD)

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