The US state-funded media organization Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) has obtained a video from the Ukrainian defense that allegedly shows Russian soldiers using Ukrainian prisoners of war as shields.

The authenticity of the video has not been verified by independent sources, and it has not been possible to determine its date Newsweek. It is said to have been filmed near the village of Robotin.

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The video is posted on YouTube

RFE/RL has hired lawyers and people in the Ukrainian military to analyze the video, and they believe the video is evidence that the Russian military committed war crimes against Ukrainian forces.

In the video, an abridged version of which was posted on YouTube by RFE/RL, a person they believe to be an armed Russian soldier can be seen walking behind someone they believe to be a Ukrainian prisoner of war. The Russian appears to lead the other man in front of him so he can hide. Other Russian soldiers follow him.

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Watch the video below:

The Russian soldier then throws what looks like a grenade in the direction of the Ukrainian site. But then an explosion can be seen before Ukrainian forces are seen fleeing.

According to RFE/RL, the Ukrainian military has no information about the condition of Ukrainian forces.

Possible violation of the Geneva Convention

Ukrainian military personnel say that Russia in the video is using a shield tactic called “combat reconnaissance.” The goal should be to discover Ukrainian firing sites.

Dmytro Lobinets, acting human rights commissioner in the Ukrainian parliament, believes the video, if it turns out to be authentic, shows Russia is violating the Geneva Convention.

– It is strictly prohibited to use prisoners of war in this way. After they receive official status as prisoners of war, they must stay in a designated camp away from the fighting and wait for an exchange, Lobinets says.