- Twitter has hidden a tweet made by the Russian embassy in the UK, saying it breaches its hate speech rules.
- The tweet said that Ukrainian prisoners of war in the Azov regiment “deserve a humiliating death.”
- The embassy posted the tweet on the day the bombings were reported to have killed 53 Ukrainian prisoners of war.
Loading Loading something.
Twitter has hidden a tweet made by the Russian embassy in the UK, saying it breaches its hate speech rules.
The Russian embassy in the UK has tweeted that the Ukrainian POWs “deserve execution, but death not by firing squad but by the gallows, because they are not real soldiers. They deserve a humiliating death.”
Twitter has hidden the content, saying it violated its hateful conduct rules.
However, the site has not removed the content, saying that “it is in the public interest that the tweet be accessible.”
The tweet refers to prisoners of war from the Azov Regiment, a volunteer infantry unit made up of right-wing Ukrainian ultra-nationalists who have since been integrated into the country’s national guard in 2014.
A protester holds a Ukrainian flag with the logo of the Azov Regiment. Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images
The tweet came on the same day that more than 50 POWs from the regiment were reported killed in an attack on the Olenivka prison camp in the Russian-occupied Donbas region, the Washington Post reports.
Ukraine and Russia blame each other for the strike, saying each side wanted to silence the prisoners.
Reuters reports that images of the destroyed prison, released by a Russian media war correspondent, show the site covered in corpses, some burning and others charred.
“A US-made Multiple Launch Rocket System (HIMARS) missile attack was carried out on a pre-trial detention center in the Olenivka settlement area, where Ukrainian military prisoners of war are held, including fighters from the Azov battalion. is being held,” the Russian defense ministry said, according to Reuters.
Ukraine said Russia bombed the prison to fabricate a false claim it was committing war crimes and cover up its executions.
“In this way, the Russian occupiers pursued their criminal goals: accusing Ukraine of committing ‘war crimes’, as well as hiding the torture of prisoners and the executions they carried out there,” the General Staff said of the armed forces of Ukraine. , according to Reuters.
The alleged abuse and torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war was also highlighted after footage appeared to show a Russian soldier wearing a knife and surgical gloves castrating a Ukrainian prisoner as he lay with his hands bound.