Kyiv has vowed to seek justice over a sickening video purporting to show a Russian soldier beheading a Ukrainian prisoner of war.
The barbaric footage, which The Mirror has chosen not to show, which spread overnight on the Internet is suspected to have been filmed last year, but as yet there is no confirmation as to its authenticity, nor clarity about the location or circumstances in which it was filmed.
It finishes with the blood-covered severed head of the apparent PoW held up to the camera.
If proved to be genuine, the bestial video is one of the most grotesque examples of war crimes from the conflict unleashed by Vladimir Putin.
It shows a masked man in camouflage with a covered face using a long knife cutting off the head of an apparent PoW with Ukrainian insignia who is trapped beneath him on the ground.
The victim pleads for mercy repeatedly uttering the words “It hurts” and “Stop” before he is killed.
A voice from another allegedly Russian fighter taunts the killer to behead and break the spine of the stricken man.
“Send it to Kyiv, *****,” a voice says in a foul-mouthed rant.
“******** everyone! Work, brothers! Work, *****!”
The killer is urged to “show the head” and “bag it” then send it to their commander.
The chief of Volodymyr Zelensky’s office appeared to be referring to this grotesque footage when he said in a statement “There will be an answer and responsibility for everything.”
Zelensky himself reacted with horror at the “Russian beasts".
He demanded that Western leaders respond to the unspeakable brutality shown in the latest video.
His voice straining with emotion, the Kyiv leader made clear he sees the bestial footage as genuine.
“This is something that no-one in the world can ignore - how easily these beasts kill,” he said.
“This video - the execution of a Ukrainian captive - the world must see it.
“This is a video of Russia as it is - what kind of creatures they are.
“There are no people for them.“
”The video showed the “new norm” that Putin’s Russian wanted to impose, he said.
“Such a habit of destroying life. This is not an accident.
“This is not an episode. There was the case in Bucha. Thousands of times - everyone must react - every leader.
“Don’t expect it to be forgotten, that time will pass.
“We are not going to forget anything.
“Neither are we going to forgive the murderers.
“There will be legal responsibility for everything.
“The defeat of terror is necessary. No-one will understand if the leaders don’t react.
“Action is required now!
“And we in Ukraine must focus on the frontline as much as possible, help as much as possible, expel the occupier from our land.
"The main goal is to win.
“The main goal is strength for Ukraine to win.
“Defeat the occupier, sentence the murderers, tribunal for the evil state.
“Eternal memory to every person whose life was taken by Russian terror.
“Glory to all who fight against this evil. Glory to Ukraine."
SBU secret service chief Vasyl Malyuk said: "We will find these subhumans. If necessary, we will get them wherever they are, from underground or from beyond the grave.
"But they will definitely be punished for what they have done.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba hit out at Russia’s current chairmanship of the UN security council.
"It is absurd that Russia, which is worse than ISIS, presides over the UN Security Council,” he said.
“Russian terrorists must be kicked out of Ukraine and the UN and held accountable for their crimes.”
Russian officials have not commented on the video.
The killer wears a white ribbon often used for identification of Russian forces in occupied Ukraine.
The one-and-a-half minute video does not appear to have been recorded in winter or the Ukrainian spring - with green leaves visible, so if genuine it is likely to be from last year.
A glimpse of the man’s face suggests he has asiatic features.
Putin’s fighting force in Ukraine comprises men from multiple ethnic groups in the Urals, Siberia and the Russian Far East, as well as ethnic Russians.
Oleg Tsaryov, a staunchly pro-Moscow Ukrainian businessman and politician, said: "Cutting off the head of a captive is a crime.
“Filming it on camera is idiotic. I cannot find a definition for those who post all this on the net.
“All I know is that if there is no legal punishment for this, there will be no state.”
