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Key insights
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Ukraine links capture to alleged POW killings in Kursk: Zelensky said the suspect is believed responsible for killing nine Ukrainian POWs in Russia’s Kursk region.
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Accountability message and planned disclosure: Zelensky vowed to find and hold accountable those responsible and said he directed SBU deputy head Oleksandr Poklad to make more details public.
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Broader pattern of alleged post-capture killings: IWPR data cited in says Ukraine is aware of more than 330 cases of its soldiers being killed after being captured by Russian troops.
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What happened
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine’s intelligence service (SBU) captured a Russian man suspected of killing nine Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russia’s Kursk region. Zelensky said he instructed SBU deputy head Oleksandr Poklad to release more details and promised that those responsible would be held accountable. The timing of the killings was unclear; Zelensky referenced “October of last year,” likely meaning October 2024, after Ukrainian troops advanced into Kursk in August and before Russia later declared the region liberated in late April 2025. The Institute for War and Peace Reporting has said Ukraine is aware of more than 330 cases of Ukrainian soldiers being killed after capture by Russian troops.