KYIV, Oct. 18 -- Two unarmed Ukrainian prisoners of war were executed on the Huliaipole front after Russian soldiers were told to "take them out immediately," Ukraine's Southern Forces Group says, but the radio intercept offered as proof has not been made public.

Maksym Kravchuk, the group's spokesperson, told Ukrainska Pravda on Saturday that Russian troops had received orders to kill wounded Ukrainian soldiers, according to the Kyiv Independent's account. The soldiers are believed to belong to the 38th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade, and Kravchuk alleged that such orders come at the initiative of its commander, Colonel Valery Kazak. The charge lands on one of the few channels still working between Moscow and Kyiv, prisoner swaps, whi...