Dmitry Yakushchenko (pictured) had his head taped to bricks with clingfilm
(Picture: Telegram)Shocking footage shared online appears to show the execution of a former Russian fighter who fled the Wagner mercenary group while fighting in Ukraine.
A Telegram video on a channel linked to Russian military contractor Wagner appears to show Crimean-born Dmitry Yakushchenko, 44, receiving a brutal blow to the head with a sledgehammer.
“Today I was on the street of the city of Dnipro when I was hit on the head, lost consciousness and woke up in this facility, where I was told I’d be put on trial,” he is heard saying in the video.
The footage then goes blurry and Yakushchenko is bludgeoned with a sledgehammer three times.
A caption then appears on the video, saying: "The court session is declared closed."
The authenticity of the video could not be independently verified.
Wagner is a private military contractor run by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a powerful Russian businessman and a close ally of Vladimir Putin.
The organisation has emerged as a key powerbroker in recent months, openly recruiting convicts from inside Russian prisons to fight in Ukraine.
Wagner’s ranks have ballooned to about 50,000, according to western intelligence estimates, including tens of thousands of prisoners recruited from jails around Russia.
Its fighters are said to have seen action in Syria, Ukraine and Africa.
