Russia on Wednesday called the UN to properly assess a video showing Ukrainian military shooting Russian prisoners of war.

Commenting on the remarks of UN spokesman Farhan Haq, who "called for all reported human rights violations by all sides in this conflict to be fully investigated and for there to be accountability,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Telegram that the UN official was “hiding behind common phrases.”

“The representatives of the UN Secretariat need to decide: either once and for all declare that they are “for all good against all bad”; or begin to approach the assessments of various events objectively, impartially, according to their functional responsibilities and mandates,” Zakharova asserted.

She also noted that the UN was “more verbose” on Ukrainian claims.

Separately in an interview with Sputnik radio, Zakharova strongly condemned a decision by the Ukrainian Attorney General's office to open criminal cases into the shootings of the Russian prisoners of war.

“Everything that was done by the Kyiv regime around this crime is immoral and criminal ... The shooting of unarmed Russian prisoners of war should not fall into the category of forgotten or protracted criminal cases. This is a terrible crime that should sound the alarm,” she stressed.

A video that emerged on social media showed a group of Russian soldiers being ordered to lie face-down on the ground before being shot dead by Ukrainian soldiers.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry did not comment on the footage, while several Western media outlets have confirmed its veracity.

Zakharova also criticized Ukraine over a raid on the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery, administered by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church which in May said it had cut ties with the Moscow Patriarchate.

“This is another element that fits seamlessly into the absolutely immoral, wild actions of the Kyiv regime,” the spokeswoman said, stressing that there could be “no justification” for the searches that took place.

The monastery was raided on Tuesday by Ukraine's State Security Service (SBU), which also confirmed further measures on the grounds of the Korets Holy Trinity Monastery and Sarnenskyi-Polska Eparchy in the northwestern Rivne region.

During a press briefing, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the searches at the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra were “a link in the chain of Kyiv's actions against the Russian Orthodox Church.” (Anadolu Agency)

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