Ukrainian  -  Ukrainian prosecutors are investigating an alleged Russian killing of five captured Ukrainian soldiers in the eastern Donetsk region, warning that the number of executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war is “increasing every month.”  Ukrainian authorities said the alleged incident in Donetsk occurred on October 2, as Russian forces mounted their final offensive to capture the key hilltop town of Vuhledar.  “During the offensive, the occupiers captured five unarmed Ukrainian defenders,” the Office of Ukraine’s Prosecutor General said Friday. “They killed one of them in a forest belt, and brought four of them to the road under the sights of automatic weapons, where they were also shot.”

The office said it was working with the Donetsk region prosecutor’s office and had opened an investigation into the alleged incident. “The killing of prisoners of war is a gross violation of the Geneva Conventions,” it said.

Meanwhile, prosecutors also warned of a sharp increase in the number of alleged executions of prisoners of war.

“A total of 53 criminal proceedings are currently under investigation over the shooting of 177 Ukrainian defenders. The vast majority of them were registered this year — 37 criminal proceedings over the shooting of 109 people,” the prosecutor general’s office said in a separate update Friday.