• 3 months ago

Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com

Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English

Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Transcript
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.

Recommended