In a major embarrassment for Ukraine, video footage has emerged which claims to show Ukrainian soldiers shooting Russian prisoners of war in the legs.

The video, which is a little hazy, has been circulating on social media after first appearing on March 27.

The head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, Matilda Bogner said she was "very concerned" and confirmed that the video would be investigated, according to a BBC report.

Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said there would be an immediate investigation and added: "I would like to remind all our military, civilians and defence forces that abusing prisoners of war is a war crime."

The BBC has also been analysing the video. “The footage – which is too graphic to show in full – purports to show a number of captured soldiers lying on the ground. Some have bags over their heads, and many appear to be bleeding from leg wounds. It is not clear how or when they were injured,” BBC stated.

The prisoners are questioned by their captors, asking them about their units and activities in the area.

At one point, three men are brought out of a vehicle and apparently shot in the legs by a soldier with an assault weapon.

These men are then questioned.

A Twitter user had suggested the video was filmed in a dairy plant in Malaya Rohan, to the south east of Kharkiv in Ukraine. The BBC has used geo-location tools to confirm the location. The area had recently been re-taken by Ukrainian troops from Russian forces.

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