Russian POWs in Ukraine face a gripping and gripping film that outlines the “absolute evil” of Putin’s troops in the war.
A video shows the prisoners forced to watch the footage outlining the alleged war crimes committed by their compatriots.
The film, without cuts and retouches, highlights the shooting of civilians, the execution of prisoners and Russian missiles hitting residential areas.
It also includes the killing of children and parents, and the torture of hostages, and was shared by the human rights ombudsman of the Ukrainian parliament, Dmytro Lubinets.
He said: “The Russian army was shown the documentary Absolute Evil about their own war crimes committed in Ukraine.
“What is in the heads of these persons – it is not known, what is in the eyes – see for yourself.
“I hope after watching they realize who the absolute evil in this world is.”
A caption to the 29-minute film read: “The authors of the documentary name those who committed these crimes and prove that the elimination of the Ukrainians as an ethnic group is Russia’s military strategy.”
It is unclear who staged the display for the Russian POWs and whether they were forced to watch it.
It begins with the infamous case of electrician Oleksandr ‘Sasha’ Matsievskyi, 42, a Ukrainian prisoner of war who was shot dead with multiple Russian weapons while smoking and uttering the words ‘Glory to Ukraine’.
Russian prisoners of war in Ukraine watch the film Absolute Evil, directed by journalist Andriy Tsaplienko
In March, he was honored by President Volodymyr Zelensky as a hero with the country’s highest medal.
The film states, “The killers film their own crime and later upload the evidence to social media.
Some might say it’s an isolated incident.
“But if you manage not to close your eyes, you will see the terrible and inconvenient truth that the world longs to see.
Mass killings of Ukrainians is Russia’s military strategy.
The film depicts the murder of electrician and decorated soldier Oleksandr ‘Sasha’ Matsievskyi
‘A controlled process with both those who pull the trigger and those who [give] the orders.
“This film shows only a few of Russia’s war crimes.
“Yet it helps to understand the magnitude of the absolute evil facing Ukraine.”
The film, directed by Kharkiv-born journalist Andriy Tsaplienko, 54, also highlights a case shortly after the start of the war in which a man is shot dead by a machine gun mounted on a Russian tank in footage filmed from a Ukrainian military drone.
The man had his hands up as he got out of his car when he was shot.
A female relative and his six-year-old child escape to an unknown location.
But the boy’s mother, Kseniya Tsaturova – who saved the boy by covering him with her body – perished in the car.
The film tells how her charred remains were later found in the car when Ukraine liberated the area.
13 burnt corpses were found hundreds of meters away.
“Several female bodies with signs of rape were piled on the highway and set on fire,” the film’s commentary read.
While many Russians involved in the “war crimes” were not identified, those who were in the tank when Tsaturova and her husband Maksym Iovenko were killed were identified.
The film called them Corporal Chingiz Tariashynov and Senior Lieutenant Daniil Ishchenko.
The film contains poignant images of men, women and children who died during the war
Russian prisoners of war watch the documentary, which was released to highlight “absolute evil.”
The documentary also highlights the tragic case of four-year-old Liza Dmitrieva, who was killed in her pram by a Russian attack.
Her mother Irina, 33, was seriously injured.
It quoted a priest saying at the funeral of another victim, “Absolute evil will be defeated.”
The film concludes, “But that requires the world not to make any compromises with absolute evil.
And does not sell one war-ravaged European country for its own comfort.
“Every crime has its first and last name.
“Therefore, punishment must be directed and inevitable, otherwise evil will inevitably return.
“It will come back to us many times.”
According to the Kiev Prosecutor General, Russian troops have committed 88,517 war crimes and crimes of aggression in Ukraine since the beginning of the all-out war in Russia.