Kremlin's mercenaries post videos of captive Ukrainian soldiers; human rights activists charge war crimes committed …

Editor's Note: The Kyiv Post is not publishing the most graphic videos of human rights abuses and war crimes allegedly committed by the Kremlin-backed fighters waging war in eastern Ukraine.

Extremely graphic video and photographic material appeared on a number of Kremlin-backed separatist websites showing evidence of torture and evidence of war crimes being committed against captured Ukrainian soldiers.

Kremlin mercenaries, often led by the Russian army, have seized more ground in the eastern Donbas region in recent takes, taking over the Donetsk Airport and a Ukrainian forces checkpoint in thevillage of Krasny Partizan,close to Horlivka in Donetsk Oblast on Jan. 23.

Shortly afterwards, a separatist information agency released a video showing the abandoned building of the checkpoint, a torn Ukrainian flag and the bodies of Ukrainian servicemen on the roadside.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

Kremlin separatists show bodies of Ukrainian servicemen after taking over a checkpoint in the village of Krasny Partizan.

Earlier, the Kremlin's Aleksander Zakharchenko, who heads the separatist fighters in Donets, promised on Jan 20 to pay tribute to Ukrainian soldiers because they fought worthily We respect them as an enemy for their heroism and courage.

In reality, the mercenaries show little mercy to captured and killed servicemen. Close-up footage shows piled bodies of Ukrainian troops with insulting, humiliating comments by the separatists.

Another video that popped up on YouTube on Jan. 24 showed 12 captured Ukrainian soldiers, mostly from Dnipropetrovsk and Kryvyi Rih, sitting outside the building with their hands tied. At least two of them are severely wounded with signs of torture and four other killed. The video was actively shared in social networks and was viewed more than 271,000 times.

The separatists ask the soldiers whether they have children and wives.During the questioning one of them says he doesn't have his own family. "There's only my old mother," the soldier answers. "Old mother? Well, then we can shoot him," says one of the fighters. Then the video shows the scene of the dead Ukrainian servicemanlying on the groundwith his head blown up. "Maybe hismother will recognize him," one of the separatist says.

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Kremlin's mercenaries post videos of captive Ukrainian soldiers; human rights activists charge war crimes committed ...