TASHKENT, August 24. /TASS/. A large number of Ukrainian servicemen are surrendering voluntarily, Kiev fears their revelations, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said at a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Defense Ministers on Wednesday.

"Now a large number of Ukrainian servicemen, who know the humane attitude of the Russian side toward prisoners of war, are voluntarily laying down their weapons. However, the Kiev regime, in order to intimidate and prevent the surrender of others, as well as fearing exposes, is massacring its own soldiers," Shoigu said.

As an example, he cited a strike on a detention center in Yelenovka where Ukrainian prisoners of war were held, including those from the Azov formation (a Ukrainian nationalist organization outlawed in Russia - TASS). "As a result, 50 people were killed and 73 were wounded," Shoigu said.

He also reported evidence of Ukraine's violations of international norms for the treatment of prisoners of war. "Facts of torture and brutal murders of Russian prisoners of war are posted on the Internet by the very perpetrators of these inhuman acts," the Russian defense minister said.