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The United Nations has accused the Russian and Ukrainian armed forces of carrying out dozens of executions of prisoners of war without trial and sentence after Russia's attack on Ukraine, world agencies reported.

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"We are deeply concerned by the extrajudicial execution of 25 Russian prisoners of war" as well as "15 Ukrainian prisoners of war," said Matilda Bogner, head of the UN Human Rights Watch in Ukraine.

According to Bogner, the UN has records of executions of Russians by Ukrainian forces, often "immediately after capturing (them) on the battlefield."

The UN is aware of five Kiev-led investigations involving 22 victims, but "we have no record of any prosecutions against the perpetrators" of these crimes, she said.

Of the 15 executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war "shortly after their capture" by the Russian armed forces, 11 were carried out by the Wagner paramilitary group, Bogner said.

Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of mistreating prisoners of war since the beginning of the Russian invasion in February 2022, notes AFP.

The "Wagner" group is on the front line in the fighting for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.

In early March, a video showing the alleged execution of a Ukrainian prisoner of war by Russian soldiers caused shockwaves in Ukraine.

In November last year, the Kremlin expressed its outrage over two videos purportedly showing the execution of a dozen Russian soldiers who had surrendered to Ukrainian forces.

Kiev is investigating the shooting of an unarmed Ukrainian prisoner of war

In addition to executions, the United Nations has also documented cases of torture and the use of human shields, the Associated Press reported.

The report is based on conversations with prisoners of war, half of them released Ukrainians, the other half Russians detained in Ukraine.

The world body's team has not been granted access to Ukrainian prisoners of war held in Russia or in Ukrainian territory controlled by Russian forces, where at least 48 places of detention have been found.

While the abuse of prisoners of war occurs in both countries, it happens far more often to Ukrainians detained by Russian forces — more than 90 percent of those people have reported abuse, compared to about half of Russians.

Members of Ukrainian security forces have subjected Russians to beatings, death threats, mock executions and threats of sexual violence.

In some cases, the strikes were purely revengeful, according to the report.

In some cases, officers were prisoners of war, told "this is for Bucha," a Ukrainian town where Russian forces committed atrocities.

Ukrainian prisoners of war were subjected to torture, sexual abuse and were denied food, water and medical care, in some cases resulting in death.

They reported being tortured and ill-treated in order to obtain information or in retaliation, being beaten with hands, feet, batons, shovels, knives and electric shocks, and there were also cases of suffocation and electric shocks.

Some of the tortured lost fingers and teeth.

Others had broken fingers, noses, ribs, arms and legs.

"They weren't content with beating us, they were breaking us," said a Ukrainian prisoner of war quoted in the report.

In addition, children from the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, who were sent to Russia for summer camps with the consent of their parents, were not returned after the end of the vacation, as expected.

About 200 children sent to the Krasnodar region remained after the end of the vacation and were enrolled in a local school.

According to Russian authorities reported in October, up to 2,500 Ukrainian children are living in temporary centers in Russia and some have remained there.

The UN does not know how many of them are unaccompanied.

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