The sickening images have been shared on Telegram (Picture: rustroyka1945)
Footage has emerged of a Russian soldier brandishing what appears to be the severed head of a Ukrainian soldier, impaled on a stake.
The appalling footage has been reported as a war crime to the United Nations by the Kyiv authorities.
It’s thought to have been filmed near a Russian border point in Belgorod region, where Ukrainian troops made a failed bid to break through the Kolotilovka checkpoint.
The Russian serviceman is heard saying: ‘The dead men of the 155th Brigade of the Pacific Fleet salute you, Khokhols [Ukrainians].’
The term ‘Khokhols’ is a derogatory Russian term used to describe Ukrainians.
He added: ‘You have made an unforgivable mistake, stepping with your filthy pig hooves on our holy land.
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web
browser that
supports HTML5
video
‘Today some of you have had your heads blown off by our pressure. It will be the same every time we meet. The dead have no pity. The dead men know no fear. The dead are coming for you, Khokhol.’
Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s human rights commissioner, said he had contacted the UN and the Red Cross over the footage filmed at the Kolotilovka checkpoint.
‘The enemy uses such videos to intimidate and demoralise Ukrainians,’ he said.
‘However, this only strengthens our desire to bring everyone who commits such inhuman atrocities to inevitable accountability.’
It is unclear how the Ukrainian serviceman was beheaded.
It’s unclear how the Ukrainian was beheaded (Picture: rustroyka1945)
The Russian soldier used a derogatory term towards Ukrainians as well (Picture: rustroyka1945)
The soldiers behind the severed head are believed to be Russia’s 155th separate marine brigade from the Russian Pacific Fleet.
According to Ukrainian intelligence, the 155th Guards Brigade was involved in atrocities such as the killings of civilians earlier in the war in Bucha, Irpen and Hostomel in the Kyiv region.
On the same day the footage was filmed, another video showed a daring bid by Ukrainian troops to crash through the border at high speed in a Kozak-2 armoured vehicle.
The vehicle came to a halt on concrete ‘dragon’s teeth’ barricades and then exploded after a drone strike.
Some of the Ukrainian paratroopers escaped from the Kozak-2 alive and reports said they were then ‘liquidated’ by the Russians.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.