A video has been posted online purportedly showing Ukrainian soldiers burying a member of pro-Russian forces alive.
In the video which was initially aired on Russia’s channel TV Zvezda, four men wearing camouflage uniforms and balaclavas can be seen throwing a man into an open grave, the Daily Mail reported on Wednesday.
Then they start to shovel earth on the man until he is completely buried.
In the video, a voice can be heard saying in Ukrainian that “he is not dead yet.”
Conflict erupted in eastern Ukraine after people in the country’s Black Sea peninsula of Crimea voted for unification with Russia in March 2014. The West brands the development as Moscow’s annexation of the territory. The US and its allies in Europe also accuse Moscow of having a hand in the crisis in eastern Ukraine, a charge Russia denies.
Ukraine’s eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk have witnessed deadly clashes between pro-Russia forces and the Ukrainian army since Kiev launched military operations in April 2014 to crush pro-Moscow protests there.
The crisis has left nearly 9,400 people dead and over 21,000 others injured, according to the United Nations
In September 2014, the government in Kiev and the pro-Russians signed a ceasefire agreement in the Belarusian capital city of Minsk in a bid to halt the clashes in Ukraine’s eastern regions. They agreed on 12 points, including pulling back heavy weapons, exchanging prisoners, setting up a buffer zone on the Russia-Ukraine border, and allowing access to international observers.
The warring sides also inked another truce deal, dubbed Minsk II, in February 2015 under the supervision of Russia, Germany and France.