Zelenskyy voices anger over video showing alleged beheading of Ukrainian soldier

Kremlin describes footage as 'awful' but says it needs to be verified

Mr Zelenskyy condemned as 'beasts' those who purportedly beheaded Ukrainian soldier shown in a video that surfaced on social media. EPA

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has voiced his anger after a video purporting to show the beheading of a Ukrainian soldier by Russian troops surfaced on social media.

The video, which lasts around one minute 40 seconds, shows a man in uniform beheading a man wearing the yellow arm band used by Ukrainian soldiers.

The footage was described as 'awful' by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov who said that more needed to be done to verify its authenticity.

In a video released on Twitter, Mr Zelenskyy described those involved as "beasts" and said “we won't forget anything, nor will we forgive murderers”.

“There will be legal responsibility for everything. The defeat of terror is necessary,” he said.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter: “A horrific video of Russian troops decapitating a Ukrainian prisoner of war is circulating online.

“It’s absurd that Russia, which is worse than ISIS, is presiding over the UNSC,” he said, referring to the UN Security Council where Russia took up the rotating presidency this month.

“Russian terrorists must be kicked out of Ukraine and the UN and be held accountable for their crimes.”

Militants from Islamic State in Iraq and Syria were notorious for releasing videos of beheadings of captives when they controlled swathes of those countries from 2014-2017.

Ukraine's domestic security agency said it had launched an investigation into a suspected war crime over the video.

“Yesterday, a video appeared on the internet showing how the Russian occupiers are showing their beastly nature — cruelly torturing a Ukrainian prisoner and cutting off his head,” the agency wrote on Telegram.