ISW: Russian military command encourages war crimes against Ukrainian prisoners
ISW analysts drew attention to an investigation by Radio Liberty's Schemes project, which published messages on Telegram from Russian Major General Roman Demurchiev. In them, he discussed the torture and killing of Ukrainian prisoners of war as common practice.
The report notes that the discussion of these crimes by Demurchiev, deputy commander of the 20th Combined Arms Army, along with other brigadier generals and a counterintelligence officer, indicates the extent to which such actions have been normalised and the complicity of senior Russian commanders.
The ISW recalled that it had previously recorded signs of the Russian military command sanctioning the torture and execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war.
The report also mentions the far-right sabotage and assault reconnaissance group Rusich, which openly distributed images of executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war and in November 2025 offered monetary rewards for such materials.
Analysts emphasise that the dissemination of execution videos by the Russian military on social media legitimises violence in military rhetoric, degrades the dignity of victims and creates conditions for the continuation of war crimes on the battlefield.
Earlier, the Schemes project published material based on a collection of messages from Roman Demurchiev. In correspondence with subordinates and other military commanders, he discussed, in particular, the torture and killing of Ukrainian prisoners as an everyday occurrence.
