In phone call with Zelensky, Sunak reacts to video showing execution of Ukrainian POW

In a phone call with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak reacted to a video that shows the execution of a Ukrainian prisoner of war, saying that those responsible need to be held to account.

This is reported by Sky News, according to Ukrinform.

“A video of a Ukrainian solider being beheaded is ‘appalling’ and those responsible need to be ‘held to account”, Rishi Sunak has told the Ukrainian president,” Sky News reported.

In a phone call with Zelensky, Sunak also paid tribute to the efforts of Ukrainian soldiers in Bakhmut as the two leaders discussed the latest on the ground.

"The leaders also discussed efforts to accelerate military support to Ukraine, and the prime minister said the UK and its allies needed to continue to ensure Ukraine was in the strongest possible position to build on its recent battlefield successes," a Downing Street spokesman said. 

Read also: “Despicable, barbaric” - Dutch foreign minister on execution of Ukrainian POW

"That included increasing interoperability with NATO both in the short and long term,” the report says.

At the end of the call, the leaders agreed to "stay in close touch". 

As reported, two videos showing the execution of Ukrainian defenders appeared on the Internet. The Security Service of Ukraine launched a pre-trial investigation into a video showing Russian invaders beheading a Ukrainian POW. Ukraine’s law enforcement agencies take measures to identify the persons who committed this terrible crime.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine appealed to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court with a demand for urgent attention to the fact of the execution of a Ukrainian prisoner by the Russian military in the context of the investigation of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Russian invaders in Ukraine.

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