A verified Ukrainian military account warned that Russian artillerymen trying to surrender would be “slaughtered like pigs” in a now-edited Facebook post after reports of heavy shelling in some cities.
In a bombastic post initially uploaded to a verified social media account on Wednesday, the Ukrainian account sent sarcastic greetings to “Russian artillerymen” who they said had been targeting “our peaceful cities, our relatives, children, loved ones” with “severe shelling”.
The post suggested that the Russian “worms” might find it easy to strike their targets — “little children, old people, houses, kindergartens, schools, and hospitals” — because they could not see them at a distance, but vowed that there would be nothing easy about the gunners’ experience in the ongoing conflict.
“We already have information about you,” the post claimed, before issuing a stark warning that “From now on, there will be no more captured Russian artillerymen. No mercy, no ‘please do not kill, I surrender’ will not pass” and threatening that they would be “slaughtered like pigs.”
“Call your mother one last time. Say you’ll die soon, jackal,” the post added, concluding: “We are not death, we are worse!”
While the post’s initial response appeared to be largely positive, some users suggested that following through on a threat to take no prisoners would violate the laws of war, and denying quarter to the enemy is classified as a war crime by the International Criminal Court, which has jurisdiction in Ukraine.
Early on Thursday morning, possibly as a result of these comments, the post was edited to remove the references to Russian gunners attempting to surrender being “slaughtered” — although the warning that “We already have information about you” and the advice to “Call your mother one last time” remain unchanged — but the original version remained viewable in the post’s edit history as of the time of publication.
Shortly after the post was edited, the account shared another post purporting to show a Russian artilleryman who had been taken prisoner making a call to his wife and children.
“While [his] daughter slept peacefully at home in Russia, her father killed Ukrainian children with jet fire system,” the post said, claiming the man had realised “the horror of what was happening [and] made a wise decision and gave up, falling under the Geneva Convention” — likely an attempt to assure outside observers that prisoners of war are not, in fact, being “slaughtered”.
Russia has obstinately denied claims it targets civilians, and, moreover, has accused Ukrainian forces of deliberately deploying heavy weapons and other military assets in civilian areas.
“[T]his is done intentionally, to provoke retaliatory strikes by the Russian Armed Forces on residents of settlements. The Ukrainian nationalist leadership uses the same methods as the terrorists,” a Russian defence spokesman has alleged.