Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner He said his troops fighting in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut will no longer take Ukrainian prisoners, but will directly they will kill them.
Prigozhin thus reacted to the broadcast of an audio posted on a Telegram account supporting Wagner, from a alleged conversation of Ukrainian servicemen ordering the execution of a fighter of the paramilitary group who had been taken prisoner.
“We do not know the name of our wounded man who was shot down by miserable Ukrainians. But we will kill everyone on the battlefieldPrigozhin said in an audio message posted by his Telegram press service on Sunday.
“When you take a prisoner, you start by taking care of him, you heal him, you don’t hurt him and you send him home after a while through an exchange,” explained the Russian mercenary leader.
The Wagner group, accused of numerous abuses in the different areas of operations in which it has been deployed in various countries, it is currently in front line in the battle of Bakhmutin eastern Ukraine.
Since the start of the Russian offensive against Ukraine in February 2022, Kiev and Moscow have accused each other of ill-treatment of prisoners constituting war crimes.
In mid-April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced the acts of Russian “monsters” after a shocking video was posted on social media showing the beheading of a suspected Ukrainian prisoner of war.
Prigozhin has rejected allegations made by an NGO and a defector from his group that the Ukrainian soldier’s executioners were Wagner members.
Speculations about a Ukrainian counter-offensive
After being warned of what would happen with the hostage-taking, Prigozhin predicted that the Ukrainian counter-offensive would begin as soon as Russian forces took the stronghold of Bakhmut in the Donbas.
“As soon as we finish taking Bakhmut, as soon as we drive out the last soldier or kill him in Bakhmut, the Ukrainian counter-offensive will begin,” he said.
“It will be very soon, because the Ukrainians will have a large number of troops,” Prigozhin added.
Wagner’s boss stressed that Ukrainian forces currently control an area of no more than “one by two kilometers” in Bakhmut and therefore should not hinder the Russian advance.
“Our task is to grind the Ukrainian army, not give them the opportunity to prepare for the counteroffensive. We do this very successfully,” he said.
Source: Clarin
Mary Ortiz is a seasoned journalist with a passion for world events. As a writer for News Rebeat, she brings a fresh perspective to the latest global happenings and provides in-depth coverage that offers a deeper understanding of the world around us.