Russia-Ukraine conflict: US condemns possible trials of Ukrainian POWs

Six months into the war Russia continues to wage on Ukraine, plans have surfaced for Russian-installed authorities in occupied areas of Ukraine to put on trial Ukrainian prisoners of war. The US State Department issued a condemnation of the plans.

The US State Department Wednesday condemned the plans by Russian-backed authorities in the area of Mariupol to put on trial the Ukrainian prisoners of war. The agency said Russia was trying to shift responsibility for the invasion of Ukraine and distract the world from the atrocities its forces have committed.

“The planned show trials are illegitimate and a mockery of justice and we strongly condemn them. All members of Ukraine’s armed forces, including domestic and foreign volunteers incorporated into the armed forces, are entitled to prisoner of war status if they are captured and must be afforded the treatment and protections commensurate with that status, according to the Geneva conventions,” said spokesperson Ned Price in a statement.

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station has become a source of escalation, with Russia and Ukraine trading blame for the shelling in the area where the facility is located.

The fighting near the facility has led to calls to demilitarize the area and calls for inspection of the plant by the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The Russian-occupied plant was disconnected from Ukraine’s main energy grid for the first time in history in the midst of the ongoing war. The move comes as fires damaged the overhead power lines, according to the Ukrainian state power company Energoatom.

It remains to be determined what caused the fires, but the firm noted that the security systems of the Zaporizhzhia facility continue to work as normal. Energoatom also said that work is underway to reconnect one of the reactor blocks to the grid.

The move also comes hours after IAEA chief Rafael Grossi told France 24 that the agency was close to visiting the plant, which is in southeastern Ukraine. Grossi said he hoped that the IAEA’s inspection mission would be done in the coming days once a deal was made to gain access to the plant.