Russian held captive for over a year admits to executing Ukrainian POWs in Kursk Oblast

Major General Oleksandr Poklad of the Security Service of Ukraine has reported to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that in October 2024 Ukrainian forces captured a Russian national who had been involved in the execution of Ukrainian POWs in Russia's Kursk Oblast.

Source: Ukrainska Pravda sources within law enforcement agencies

Details: The man was taken prisoner on 17 October 2024, and investigative procedures have been ongoing since then.

His involvement in the execution of Ukrainian POWs has now been established.

He has been identified as Sergei Skobelev, a Russian citizen with a previous conviction for robbing a jewellery shop.

Skobelev served in the 22nd Regiment of the Guards Separate Marine Brigade stationed in Sevastopol, in the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea. The regiment was later attached to Russia's 155th Guards Separate Marine Brigade.

According to counterintelligence, on 10 October 2024, the Russian unit in which he was serving advanced to assault Ukrainian positions near the settlement of Zelyony Shlyakh in Kursk Oblast.

Skobelev was made commander of a six-man group. As a result of a firefight, two Ukrainian servicemen were killed and nine were taken prisoner.

After reporting to their commander that Ukrainian soldiers had been captured, the group received an order to execute them.

It has been established that Skobelev personally shot four Ukrainian servicemen with an AK-74 assault rifle.

Another Russian serviceman, who goes by the alias Ivanych, killed five more POWs.

Background: In October 2024, footage appeared online showing the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers who had surrendered in Kursk Oblast. Russian forces executed nine Ukrainian servicemen.

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