Ukraine's Security Service identifies Russian soldier who carved "Z" into POW's forehead

The Security Service of Ukraine has identified another Russian soldier who has committed war crimes against Ukrainians.

Source: Security Service of Ukraine; Office of the Prosecutor General

Details: The person in question is Volodymyr Polupoltinnykh, commander of the Russian so-called 6th Separate Motorised Rifle Cossack Regiment of the LPR, which is part of Russia's Southern Military District. [The Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) is a Russian-backed, non-recognised and self-proclaimed quasi-state formation in Ukraine's Luhansk Oblast – ed.]

According to the investigation, on 10 June 2022, the suspect ordered his subordinates to torture Ukrainian soldiers who had been captured during fighting in Ukraine's east.

The investigation established that Polupoltinnykh personally took part in the torture. It has been documented that during one of the torture sessions, he used a knife to carve the letter "Z" into the forehead of a Ukrainian prisoner of war.

According to the case materials, the suspect is a resident of the temporarily occupied part of Luhansk Oblast who joined the Russian-controlled illegal armed formations in 2014.

He has been fighting with the Russian occupying forces in Ukraine's east since the start of the full-scale invasion.

Security Service investigators have now notified Polupoltinnykh in absentia that he is suspected of offences under Articles 28.1 and 438.2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (violation of Articles 4, 13, 14 and 15 of the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War of 12 August 1949, which prohibits any unlawful act or omission by the detaining power that endangers the health of prisoners of war under its protection, committed by a group of persons).

The issue of declaring the suspect wanted is currently under consideration. The pre-trial investigation continues, the Office of the Prosecutor General added.

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