Expert Says Ukraine Circulating Photos of Captured Troops May Violate International Law

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Ukraine's tactic of circulating media footage of killed or captured soldiers across social media platforms could be a violation of international law and may possibly undermine Kiev's strategy, Southwestern Law School Professor Rachel VanLandingham told the Washington Post.

"The law doesn’t allow for, ‘They’re [Russia] doing bad things, so we can, too,’" VanLandingham, a former US Air Force judge advocate and CENTCOM legal adviser, said in an article published on Thursday. "They [Ukraine] don’t want to turn the international community against them. They’ve got to be on the straight and narrow here. It’s really dangerous for them in desperation to do things that are clearly prohibited."

The authenticity of the photos and videos used by Ukraine cannot be independently verified, the report said. In addition, the report said Ukrainian officials' claims all of the dead and captured soldiers in the photos are Russian also cannot be confirmed.

There have been pictures and photos posted on various social media platforms since the conflict erupted showing dead Russian soldiers on battlefields across Ukraine, the report said. One Telegram channel circulating such photos has over 620,000 subscribers, according to the report.

Telegram, Twitter and YouTube have been some of the key social media platforms where these photos and videos can be found.

Ukraine's Ministry of Internal Affairs since Sunday has been posting extremely graphic images and inviting Russians to view them to possibly identify anyone they might know, the report said.

Ukrainian officials have argued that the images will show Russians the devastation of the military operation, the report added.

The report also said the tactic could be considered a violation of the Geneva Conventions, which states that governments at all times must protect prisoners of war from humiliating and degrading treatment.