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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Pjotr Sauer

Wagner mercenary admits ‘tossing grenades’ at injured Ukrainian PoWs

Yevgeny Prigozhin Ukraine Andriy Yermak Bakhmut Russia SOLEDAR
Ukrainian troops fighting in Bakhmut on 13 April.
Ukrainian troops fighting in Bakhmut on 13 April, where one Wagner fighter spoke of killing civilians, including a child, in a basement. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

A former Wagner mercenary has admitted to killing and torturing dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war, in one of the most detailed first-person accounts of atrocities committed by Russian forces in Ukraine.

Alexey Savichev, 49, a former Russian convict recruited by Wagner last September, told the Guardian in a telephone interview that he participated in summary executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war during his six months of fighting in eastern Ukraine.

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