Exclusive CNN: Intercepted radio conversations and drone images seem to capture Russian orders to kill Ukrainian troops that surrender. See the images in the video
Kiev, Ukraine – Radio crackled, but the shouted order was clear: capturing the commander and killing others.
The frightening conversation is part of a series of radio broadcasts among the Russian forces that, according to Ukrainian authorities, provide more evidence that the Russian superiors are ordering the soldiers to perform the Ukrainian troops that surrender, violating international law.
Radio communications intercepted by Ukraine, which were obtained by CNN through a Ukrainian intelligence officer, seem to correspond in real time to drone images of a suspicion of execution by Russian soldiers in the Zaprizzhzia region in eastern Ukraine last November. The images show six soldiers lying on the ground, with at least two to be shot at close range and another to be taken.
These deaths are being investigated by Ukrainian prosecutors, who shared a drone video screen capture on social networks after the incident. A Ukrainian officer familiar with the investigation said the same radio interceptions obtained by CNN were being examined as part of the investigation into the murders.
CNN could not independently authenticate radio traffic, nor confirm that communications were directly linked to the drone images, but a forensic expert who analyzed audio files said they didn’t seem to have been manipulated.
A UN -top -top investigator and a Western intelligence officer told CNN that radio broadcasts and drone images are consistent with other cases of Russian forces that allegedly performed Ukrainian troops that surrendered.
Morris Tidball-Binz, a UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, said radio broadcasts and drone images suggest the murder of soldiers surrendered by Russian forces, as reported by the UN.
Tidball-Binz, who investigated similar suspicion executions, called such incidents “serious violations” of international law, adding that he believes that such conduct could only be authorized by Russia’s highest authorities.
“They would not happen with such number and frequency without orders – or at least consent – of the highest military commanders, which in Russia means the presidency,” he said.
The Russian Ministry of Defense did not respond to CNN’s request to comment on the allegations.
Russian authorities have already denied that Russian troops have committed war crimes and insisted that Russia treats prisoners of war according to international law.
The alleged executions of prisoners of war, among other widespread accusations that Russian military forces are responsible for war crimes in Ukraine, can complicate US President Donald Trump’s efforts to quickly end war. Trump has sought to end combat with an erratic approach that has often led him to ally himself with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and led his administration to briefly interrupt an initiative of the State Department to investigate alleged war crimes committed by Moscow.
A Western intelligence official told CNN that he analyzed intercepted audio files and “considered them authentic, credible and consistent with previously documented brutal executions. Of course, the soldier receives an order to execute the Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered.
The employee said he was examining similar material from other cases that “reinforce the evidence of a Russian officers directive to kill Ukrainian soldiers who have surrendered or are in the process of surrender.”
The Ukraine Security Service (SBU) told CNN that Russian soldiers of the Storm Unit of the 394th Motorized Infantry Regiment (127th Motorized Infantry Division) of the 5th Army of Combined Weapons were involved in November attack. SBU said it had linked the same ‘Storm unit’ to the other suspicion of execution in the same area – the beheading of a captured Ukrainian soldier – and that he had accused the Russian commanders of the unit who, he said, were responsible.
The Office of the Ukrainian Attorney General said that until May 5, he had opened 75 criminal investigations into the suspicions of execution of 268 Ukrainian prisoners. He stated that the number of alleged Ukrainian prisoner executions has been increasing, with eight cases involving 57 soldiers in 2022, eight cases involving 11 soldiers in 2023, 39 cases with 149 soldiers in 2024 and 20 cases so far this year, with 51 soldiers.
Yurii Bielousov, head of the Ukrainian Public Prosecution Service Crimes Department, said the increase is due to “instructions given by the leading leaders of the Russian federation, both politicians and military. We have not yet seen an order in writing, but we had several examples of verbal orders.”
Bielousov noted that Putin had said in March that Ukrainian soldiers captured in the Kursk region of Russia should be treated as terrorists. “Everyone knows how Putin treats people they call terrorists. So for us, this is almost synonymous with execution,” he said.
According to Bohdan Okhrimenko, head of the coordination headquarters for the treatment of Ukraine prisoners, another possible explanation for the murders was that the Russian military wanted to avoid the logistics problems of capturing and managing prisoners. “This complicates military logistics from their point of view. The Russian command has made a simple decision … shoot the captured prisoners.”
“Capture the commander and kills the others all”
Radio broadcasts intercepted by Ukraine seem to capture a Russian commander, whose name and patent were not identified by CNN, talking to front line troops. In the recordings, two Russians are referred to by their indications, “Arta” and “Beliy”.
The Ukrainian intelligence officer shared a transcription of radio broadcasts, which indicated that they were intercepted at 12:05 pm local time, when the Ukrainian position was invaded, and continued until 12:31, when the apparent fear of the arrival of a Ukrainian drone led the Russian commander to order the withdrawal.
CNN could not independently verify when the transmissions were intercepted.
The Russian commander can be heard to order the deaths on six different occasions. According to the transcript of intercepted broadcasts, the commander’s first order was given at 12:22.
“Ask who is the commander. Who is the commander? Asks. Captures the commander and kills others all”you can hear him say.
Four minutes later, he repeats the order twice.
“Do that. Captures the commander, who is the others.”
“That’s it. Capture the most graduated and get rid of others, C …!”
The commander often calls for updates to his combat unit, which has difficulty responding. “Does anyone, goats, answer, the goats are surrendering or not?”
The soldier referred to by the indicative “Arta”, which seems to be the main interlocutor, says they found no Ukrainian commander, only a “superior”.
CNN drone images only cover from 12:27 to 12:30 pm, according to the time codes in the video, but there seems to be a clear connection between the orders captured in the transmissions and what happens on the ground in the drone images.
At 12:28 pm, the order is given by the radio for the sixth time, and a soldier wearing a mask and dark green uniform with the Russian army can be seen leaving the foliage, moving toward the prisoners.
“Get out, C …! Bring the most graduated and slaughter the others, C …!”says the commander.
A Ukrainian soldier is visible in the granulated images, apparently gesturing to the Russians. Moments later, the masked soldier shoots his head. The voice of the Russian commander captured in the broadcasts then asks if the killing is completed.
“Did you shot us? Is it a question! They slaughtered us? It’s a question!”
“Arta! Arta! Aqui é Beliy, Entendido!”
“We killed the other children of P ***.”
In the images, another Ukrainian, presumably the commander who was immovable until that moment, gets up, takes his armor and is taken away. The Russian commander communicates his concern for the radio, while a drone is seen rising above the smoke of an explosion. Then the withdrawal is ordered.
The images are consistent with satellite images of the Novodarivka village analyzed by CNN and the Center for Information Resilience, a non -profit organization that documents potential human rights violations. Images captured by Max’s Technologies in October 2024 show fields with vegetation, tree lines and craters similar to those visible in the drone video.
Robert Maher, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Informatics at Montana State University, an expert in forensic audio analysis, examined radio communications to CNN. The audio recordings of the broadcasts, which were sent to CNN in dozens of separate files, all seemed consistent, according to Maher. He said he saw “no sign that they were not authentic.”
The murder of Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered is alleged by Ukrainian authorities and international experts as part of a policy orchestrated by Russia. The incident seems to be one of the first times that intercepted radio broadcasts were linked to drones images of a suspicion of execution.
The CNN first reported the alleged policy in the past, detailing a video showing apparent execution by Russian troops from three Ukrainians who surrendered near the besieged city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine last August.
Ukrainian authorities claim that alleged executions are fueled by Russia’s cultural hatred against their opponents, but they also aim to have a psychological impact. Okhrimenko said Russian soldiers published videos of the beheading and castration of Ukrainian soldiers to affect morals.
“Violence generates violence,” he said, adding that Ukraine intensified her staff training to ensure that Russian prisoners were kept safe for further exchanges.
