A chilling photo has emerged showing a severed head resting on a Russian military vehicle amidst rumors that Vladimir Putin's soldiers have been "ordered to decapitate" Ukrainian troops.
Knewz.com has learned that the photograph was captured by aerial reconnaissance in the Donetsk region.
Warning: The following image contains graphic content that may be disturbing to some readers.
The picture, which was shared by the official Telegram channel of the Ukrainian Attorney General's Office, showed the severed head of a supposed Ukrainian soldier on the hood of a damaged Russian armored vehicle.
Attorney General Andriy Kostin wrote about the photograph on Facebook:
"New terrible evidence of Russian criminal policy aimed at destroying Ukrainians. We have received information that Russian commanders ordered not to take Ukrainian soldiers into captivity, instead killing them with inhuman cruelty \- by beheading. The fact of the beheading of the Ukrainian defender was recorded in Donetsk region."
"This terrible barbarism must have no place in the 21st century. And this is yet another proof that the war crimes committed by the aggressor are not isolated incidents but a planned strategy of the Russian regime. These criminal orders were given at the command level of the battalion and company of the occupation forces."
The statement posted by the Attorney General's Office on Telegram noted that beheading a soldier is "a gross violation of the articles of the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War and the Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions concerning the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflict."
A pre-trial investigation has been launched regarding the incident, on grounds of "violation of the laws and customs of war, combined with pre-trial murder."
The Donetsk Regional Prosecutor's Office is leading the probe, which is being carried out by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
Attorney General Kostin assured that these crimes will not "go unpunished" and called on "the entire civilized world to isolate the terrorist state and bring it to justice."
Putin's forces have set a horrible track record of torturing Ukrainian soldiers captured in the war, as Russian troops filmed a disturbing video of themselves beating up and humiliating a group of Ukrainian prisoners before leading them to a "mock execution" earlier in June.
The video footage showed the four captured Ukrainian POWs being beaten, threatened, and marched through a forest, as five Russian troops try to make them sing the Soviet national anthem.
One of the Ukrainian soldiers was kicked in the groin, causing him to fall over. He was then kicked in the head.
One of the Russian paratroopers was heard saying in the video at that point, "Looks like we're gonna have to kill him. Do we have to kill him? Hey, get up, get up."
Shortly following the death threat, the paratrooper shot his rifle into the ground, barely inches from the fallen soldier's head. The Ukrainian soldier did not seem to react to the shot and continued to groan in pain.
The short footage was shared on Telegram by Ukrainian ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets, who wrote that the video showed Russian soldiers "mocking Ukrainian prisoners of war."
"The video recorded beatings, humiliation, threats, and an imitation of a shooting. Unfortunately, such treatment of Ukrainian prisoners of war is not an exception... but a common tactic for the occupiers," Lubinets further wrote in his post.
"This case should be recorded as another proof of violation of international humanitarian law by the Russian Federation! I sent official letters to the ICRC and the UN to document the fact of abuse. This will be another addition to the evidence base for the future criminal tribunal," he added.
It is worth noting that the recent "barbaric" act was recorded days after more than 80 other countries and international organizations signed a joint statement in support of the call to cease all hostilities between Ukraine and Russia.
By signing the joint statement, the signatories reaffirmed their commitment to "refraining from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, the principles of sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of all states, including Ukraine, within their internationally recognized borders," per CNN.