Ukraine human rights Ombudsman opens probe into Russian torture video

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00:00Yes, so the Human Rights Commissioner here, Ombudsman here in Ukraine, opened an investigation

00:07following this video which has been circulating on social media. It hasn't been authentified yet,

00:14but it is in line of previous tortures, previous violent actions that we've seen Russian soldiers

00:21committing against Ukrainian soldiers. And of course, this video caused outrage here,

00:27and Dmytro Lubines, the Ombudsman for Human Rights here in Ukraine, called on the International Red

00:34Cross to react. This comes as the Red Cross faces a lot of harsh criticism here in Ukraine for a

00:42perceived lack of action towards Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russia. And this video

00:50just highlights the plight of Ukrainian soldiers at the hands of Russian troops. There's thousands

00:57of Ukrainian soldiers who are prisoners of war at the moment in Russian jails, and they are being

01:02tortured, they are being malnourished, they are being killed. And this issue from the Ukrainian

01:09perspective has not been properly addressed by the international community, by international

01:14institutions supposed to safeguard the lives of its soldiers, or at least visit the prisoners of

01:23in Russia. This comes, you know, talking about war crimes, because if this video is authentic,

01:31this would be one talking about war crime today committed by Russia. Today, I was just attending

01:37a funeral of a combat medic who was volunteering to save lives on the front line. She has been

01:42killed in her evacuation vehicle. Her name was Sasha Mukhevich. She was 35. There were

01:49hundreds of people here in Kyiv who came to pay their respects to her. And also, there was a

01:55national, nationwide outrage at her death, as once again, it seems that Russia targeted first aid

02:05rescuers, first responders. She was killed by a Russian FPV drone in Kharkiv region. So,

02:13we see that time, that day in, day out, there are Russian crimes being committed against the

02:19Ukrainian army, against prisoners of war, but also against first responders.

02:24And we'll have to follow the international response to those cases into that latest video.

02:29Meanwhile, Emmanuelle Zelensky says that Ukrainian forces are strengthening their position

02:33in the Russian region of Kursk. What's the latest you can tell us about the fighting there?

02:38Well, the fighting is still very much ongoing with Ukraine saying that it retains control over

02:481,150 square kilometers of land. It also says that it registered some advances. Now,

02:54it's difficult to assess the situation exactly. What we know, what I can tell you from having

03:01been in Sumy region, which is at the border with Kursk region, is that there's intense fighting

03:07ongoing there, judging by the amount of equipment I've seen going in and out of the border.

03:14And you've mentioned it earlier, this bridge blown up in Russia. This is a strategic bridge.

03:20This will prevent Russia from bringing more equipment towards the region of fighting.

03:27And Russia accused Ukraine of using Western equipment. However, this is in line with what

03:33the Western allies of Ukraine have allowed Ukraine to do. Even the U.S. has allowed Ukraine to strike

03:41within Russian territory within a certain limit, the border regions. So this would not be contrary

03:49to what the allies agreed with Ukraine in terms of defending itself against the Russian aggression.

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