Former Wagner commanders confess to massive war crimes, including killing children
Wagner PMC (Photo:wargonzo/Telegram)
Former Wagner PMC commanders have confessed to committing massive war crimes against Ukrainians at the order of founder and leader Yevgeny Prigozhin during an interview with Russian human rights project Gulagu.net.
The commanders provided detailed accounts of how they brutally killed people, including the execution of over 20 Ukrainian children and teenagers, and the detonation of a pit containing more than 50 wounded captives, in a video published on April 17.
The former commanders said the orders came from both Prigozhin and unit commanders. Prigozhin also approved of terrorist methods and the brutality of the murders.
“I executed the order with my own hand — I killed children (...) We were ordered to sweep and destroy everyone (...) We killed everyone — women, men, pensioners, and children, including little ones, five-year-olds,” recounted former Russian prisoner Azamat Uldarov.
Former commander Alexei Savichev said that after the exchange of prisoners of war in February 2023, Russian officers gave orders to “shoot without words” anyone over the age of 15. Around 10 teenagers were executed along with others.
Savichev also revealed that failure to obey orders, including killing civilians, resulted in execution by firing squad.
“Russian terrorists have confessed to the murder of Ukrainian children in Bakhmut and Soledar. It’s about war criminals from the Wagner PMC, but this sheds light on the crimes of the Russian army in Ukraine. They kidnap our children and kill them (...) We will learn all the facts about the crimes and find everyone who committed them. We are doing everything to bring our children back,” he wrote on Telegram.
Gulagu.net interviewed former Russian prisoners who were recruited by Wagner. Both Uldarov and Savichev were personally pardoned by Russian dictator Vladimir Putin in late August and early September 2022, and the project say they both are “100% in Russia.”
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