Employees of the Ukrainian Internal Intelligence Service (SBU) on Monday interrogated mercenaries from the Russian group Wagner who were captured last week during a combat operation by SBU special forces. According to the SBU, exhaustive evidence of war crimes and atrocities committed by the private military company has been found. The site of the crimes is said to have been the temporarily occupied region of Kharkiv.
The security service learned that members of the Wagner group in the area of the Izyum district were carrying out so-called purges of the local population and “hunting” for anti-terrorist forces. According to the investigation, men who had taken part in an “anti-terrorist operation” were placed in a ten-foot hole in the ground and tied up without water and food.
Threatened and beaten to death
It would have been in early September when the private military company kidnapped residents who took part in the operation on the territory of the temporarily occupied city of Borov. The victims were brutally beaten, threatened with death and beaten, according to the SBU. “The occupiers conducted interrogations and tried to obtain information about other patriotic residents of the region through threats and torture,” the domestic intelligence service said.
Contracted by “Putin’s Chef”.
On October 18, the SBU shared a video of an interrogation of a member of the Wagner group, who claims to have been recruited from Russian prisoners. The man said he was contracted by Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin – otherwise known as “Putin’s chief” – for the war in Ukraine. Prigozhin assured him “that the (former) prisoners will fight side by side with ‘experienced’ mercenaries who will teach them everything”. Also, none of the prisoners should be sent to the front.
“Wash away sins with the blood of Ukraine”
Prigozhin is said to have promised the assigned prisoners that they could “wash away their sins with the blood of Ukraine”. However, the detainee had only spent two days at the front before being captured by Ukrainian forces. “We’re being used as cannon fodder,” the former mercenary explained. According to the prisoner, the commander sent the prisoners to the front to check the situation – “just to find out where what positions are, who is stationed where”. But within days he realized that he would only survive if he surrendered.
According to the New Voice of Ukraine, British military intelligence warned in late March that Russia’s PMC Wagner Group was stationed in eastern Ukraine. It was expected to use more than 1,000 mercenaries, including senior leaders of the organization, to conduct combat operations.
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
