Viral war video shows Russian drone operators zoom in, cheer as Ukrainian counterparts are shot on head | WATCH

(Trigger Warning: Blood, murder, war crime) A new video of battlefield brutality has emerged from Ukrainian frontlines that shows Russian soldiers executing five unarmed enemy soldiers. Handles on both sides confirmed that the undated video showed the execution of Ukrainian military drone operators. However, none could claim where the video was captured and exactly when.

The heartbreaking video showed four Ukrainian soldiers forced on the ground with their hands behind their heads in a line. Seconds later, a Russian soldier in full military gear approaches them and fires from close range, the video showed. While most victims lay motionless after the initial round, the Russian captor fires at them once again, presumably to ensure they don't survive—targeting their heads. While four of them lay in a line, a fifth was positioned alone, a few metres behind. He was targeted after the captor ensured the other four were dead, the video showed.

Unparalleled cruelty, claims, counter-claims and justifications

Making the scene more vile, Russian drone operators, who reportedly watched the execution of their counterparts through a UAV airborne, cheered and laughed in agreement as blood spilt from the fallen men's heads.

The video received much criticism on social media as many pro-Kyiv handles claimed it was another instance of war crimes committed by Russia. Prisoners of War (POW) are being executed in broad daylight because the Kremlin doesn't respect the international community, they said.

However, pro-Moscow X handles were quick to come up with a defence, claiming that the executed men were war criminals who purposefully targeted Russian civilians using their drones. "Battlefield justice" was the only way to hold them responsible for their actions, they said.

Like the location of the undated video, The Week could not independently verify the authenticity of the claims either.

The video hit the internet at a time when officials from Europe, the United States and Ukraine gathered in Geneva on Sunday to discuss a draft plan presented by Washington to end the Ukraine war, after Kyiv and its allies voiced alarm over what they saw as major concessions to the aggressor Russia. On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had until Thursday to approve the 28-point plan, which calls on Ukraine to cede territory, accept limits on its military and renounce ambitions to join NATO. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine is now in its fourth year.

It is likely that Moscow may object to some proposals in the scheme, which requires its forces to pull back from some areas they have captured.