Russian soldiers are donning Ukrainian uniforms and masquerading as volunteer militia to execute sabotage missions in the country's south and east, Ukrainian officials are claiming.
The Russian military is also using civilian clothes to infiltrate other areas, they said.
The Operational Command South of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said on its Facebook page that Russians were producing their own Ukrainian uniforms in the occupied city of Tokmak in the Zaporizhya region.
"We expect these 'dressed up' battalions to stage sabotage missions and, more importantly, discredit Ukrainian soldiers in the eyes of the civilian population," the post read.
Gov. Serhiy Haydai of the eastern region of Luhansk told the Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform that he has learned Russians in civilian clothes are traveling to the rear of contested regions in stolen vehicles.
"I believe they'll steal some civilian cars, perhaps vans, that have 'Volunteers' written on them and will try to get to our checkpoints. They will then shoot whoever is present at the checkpoint," he said.
Ukrainian officials reported similar instances in the first week of Russia's invasion in late February.
On Feb. 25, Russians dressed as Ukrainian National Guardsmen shot and killed six soldiers at a checkpoint in Vasilkiv near Kyiv, according to the State Special Communications Services of Ukraine.
On the same day, Russian soldiers stole two cars and uniforms and infiltrated the Kyiv line of defense. The two cars led an entire column of Russian weaponized vehicles but were stopped in the Obolon neighborhood of the capital, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar reported.
Such acts are prohibited by the 1977 Protocol I amendment to the Geneva Convention. Russian President Vladimir Putin, however, signed an executive order in 2019 and submitted a bill to the country's parliament to revoke Russia's adoption of Protocol I.
"It is prohibited to kill, injure or capture an adversary by resort to perfidy. Acts inviting the confidence of an adversary to lead him to believe that he is entitled to, or is obliged to accord, protection under the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, with intent to betray that confidence, shall constitute perfidy," the document states.
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