Kyiv says Russia is like Islamic State

Kyiv — Ukraine on Wednesday compared Russia to Islamic State (ISIS) after a video emerged online showing apparent Russian soldiers filming themselves beheading a Ukrainian captive with a knife.

The authenticity or provenance of the video shared on social media, which couldn’t be verified immediately, shows a man in uniform beheading another man who wears the yellow armband used by Ukrainian soldiers.

There was no immediate comment on the video from Moscow, which denied that its troops commit atrocities during the invasion Russia launched last year.

“There is something that no-one in the world can ignore: how easily these beasts kill,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video message. “There will be legal responsibility for everything. The defeat of terror is necessary.”

Ukrainian foreign minister Dmitro Kuleba said on Twitter: “A horrific video of Russian troops decapitating a Ukrainian prisoner of war is circulating online.

“It’s absurd that Russia, which is worse than ISIS, is presiding over the UNSC,” he said, referring to the UN Security Council ,where Russia assumed the rotating presidency this month. “Russian terrorists must be kicked out of Ukraine and the UN and be held accountable for their crimes.”

Militants from Islamic State in Iraq and Syria are notorious for releasing videos of beheadings of captives when they controlled swathes of those countries from 2014/17.

Ukraine’s domestic security agency said it had was investigating a suspected war crime.

“Yesterday, a video appeared on the internet showing how the Russian occupiers are showing their beastly nature — torturing a Ukrainian prisoner and cutting off his head,” the SBU agency wrote on Telegram.

Reuters