Live blog: Russian forces shot surrendering Ukrainian soldiers — Kiev

Sunday, December 3, 2023

0734 GMT — Ukrainian officials have accused Russian forces of killing surrendering Ukrainian soldiers, a war crime if confirmed, after grainy footage on social media appeared to show two uniformed men being shot at close range after emerging from a dugout.

The video shows the servicemen, one of them with his hands up, walking out at gunpoint and lying down on the ground before a group of Russian troops appears to open fire. It was not immediately possible to verify the video’s authenticity or the circumstances in which it was taken.

The Ukrainian General Prosecutor’s office on Sunday launched a criminal investigation, hours after the Ukrainian military’s press office said in an online statement that the footage is genuine.

Kiev, its Western allies and international human rights organisations have repeatedly accused Moscow of breaching international humanitarian law since it launched its full-scale offensive on Ukraine in February 2022.

More updates 👇

1140 GMT — One dead after Russian drone and missile attacks: Ukraine

Ukraine has said a man had died in a Russian airstrike near the southern city of Kherson, adding it had downed 10 drones and a missile fired by Russia overnight.

The 78-year-old man died on Sunday morning when the village of Sadove was bombarded, said the head of the regional military administration, Roman Mrochko.

Russia had attacked several locations in Ukraine overnight, using a total of 12 Shahed drones, Ukraine's armed forces said in its daily briefing. It said it had also intercepted a guided Kh-59 missile.

1132 GMT — Russia says it hit air defence HQ in Ukraine's Dnipro

Russian forces hit a fortified commander post of Ukraine's "East" air defence and alerting centre in the central city of Dnipro, the Russian defence ministry has said.

It said that it inflicted combined strikes by operational-tactical and army aviation, unmanned aerial vehicles, missile forces and artillery.

Reuters was not immediately able to corroborate the battlefield reports from either side.

0734 GMT — Ukraine repels barrage of Russian drone, cruise missile attacks

Russia launched 12 drones and a cruise missile at Ukraine overnight, with Ukraine's air defence systems destroying 10 drones before they reached their targets, Ukraine's air force said.

The cruise missile was not destroyed but did not reach its target, the Air Force said on Sunday, without giving further details. It did not say what happened to the two drones that were not destroyed.

"10 out of 12 is a perfect score. These are good results that we see every day," Air Force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat told national television.

Reuters could not independently verify the Air Force's report. There was no immediate comment from Russia.

The Iranian-made Shahed drones were headed towards Ukraine's northwest, the air force said. Most were downed in the Mykolaiv region in Ukraine's south.

Regional officials confirmed the attack but said they had no information on casualties or damage.

0640 GMT — Russia, Ukraine to conduct mutual visits to prisoners of war

Russia's Commissioner for Human Rights Tatiana Moskalkova and Ukrainian human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets plan to conduct several mutual visits to prisoners of war, Russia's RIA news agency reported.

"Russian military personnel will be visited on the Ukrainian side. Ukrainian military personnel will be visited on the Russian side. There will be several of these visits, we have a schedule," RIA cited Moskalkova as saying on Sunday.

For our live updates from Friday (December 2), click here.