UKRAINE – The troops emerge and stagger into the middle of the dusty track, then onto their knees, their hands placed on their heads. Seconds later, the Ukrainian drone footage shows, they lie face down, motionless, dust trailing nearby.

Video obtained exclusively by CNN, filmed during fighting late August near the embattled city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine, shows an apparent execution by Russian troops of three surrendering Ukrainians, after their trench was overrun.

The incident, described by a Ukrainian official who asked for some details to be withheld to protect the identity of the unit, is part of a pattern of apparent executions, seemingly increasing in pace this year. Ukrainian defense intelligence sources have given CNN a list of 15 cases since November, most supported by drone video or audio intercepts, in which they say surrendering Ukrainian troops were killed by the Russians on the front lines, rather than being taken prisoner.

Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Andriy Kostin, told CNN on Wednesday his office was investigating at least 28 such incidents since the start of the war. Following the publication of CNN’s report, Kostin posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that prosecutors had also launched an investigation into the footage obtained by CNN from near Pokrovsk, as well as video of another suspected killing of a captured Ukrainian soldier that was distributed Friday on Telegram.

Ukrainian prosecutors said Friday they were now investigating “the possible execution of 73 Ukrainian prisoners of war by the Russian military.” The footage from Pokrovsk region appears to reflect the relentlessly brutal tactics of the Russian military as they continue to advance in Ukraine’s east. Moscow’s grind towards the Ukrainian strategic military hub of Pokrovsk has continued, despite Kyiv’s recent gains in the Russian border region of Kursk fueling hopes the Kremlin would be forced to divert troops to defend Russia’s own borders.

Ukrainian prosecutors told CNN they believe the alleged killings are war crimes and part of an orchestrated policy by the Kremlin. “If prisoners of war surrender, if they show that they surrender, if they are without weapons in their hands, then summary execution is a war crime,” Andriy Kostin, the prosecutor general of Ukraine, told CNN. (CNN)…[+]