Wagner PMC mercenaries confess to shooting over 20 Ukrainian children and teenagers

They told this to the Russian project Gulagu.net.

Azamat Uldarov and Aleksey Savichev are former prisoners of Russian prisons and ex-commanders of Wagner PMC units. They were both pardoned by Russian President Vladimir Putin and are currently on the territory of Russia.

For a week, the men testified during video and audio interviews for Gulagu.net. They said that orders were given by both the commanders of Wagner's PMC units and its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Wagner's members shared with the project founder Vladimir Osechkin the details of the execution of more than 20 Ukrainian children and teenagers, the blowing up of a pit with more than 50 wounded prisoners and those who refused to follow criminal orders to kill Ukrainians and who left the war.

They also told Osechkin about the clearing operation (zachistka) of residential buildings. During this process, they killed everyone, including children.

According to Savichev, after the exchange of prisoners of war in February 2023, Russian officers ordered the execution of all those over the age of 15. 

"Civilians came out. And there was an order: everyone who was 15 and older was to be shot at once without a word. They shot 20-24 people, 10 of them were 15- and 17-year-olds," he said.

When asked how many ‘peaceful citizens’ he had killed, the mercenary said that 15-year-old Ukrainians "can hardly be called peaceful." He also added that in Wagner's PMC, failure to comply with orders, including the killing of civilians, is punishable by execution.

In addition, Savychev participated in the massacre of wounded Ukrainian soldiers and members of Wagner's PMC in Bakhmut in January 2023. He said that there were about 60 people there. He used 30 grenades to kill them, after which the bodies were burned.

"They were breathing, there were no screams. I was ordered to come, blow it up and set it on fire. I wasn't going to look at how many people were breathing, how many were alive. I just saw my people there, reported to the commander, and he told me that they were no longer ours," the militant said.

Uldarov said that his unit was ordered to "kill everyone" during the storming of Soledar and Bakhmut. According to him, he “cleared” the basement of a 9-storey building with 300-400 civilians, 40 of whom were children.

"I fulfilled the command with this hand, I killed the children. You know, on the order. The fact that we... We were given the command to destroy everyone... We went and killed everyone - women, men, pensioners and children, including little ones, five-year-olds," the mercenary said, adding that he "had no choice."

In addition, Uldarov admitted that he shot a 5-year-old girl in the head when they were entering Soledar and Bakhmut.

"She's screaming, she's a little kid, you know. I shot a 5-6-year-old girl with a control shot," said the Wagnerian.

One of the mercenaries also shared that once a Wagner soldier got drunk and took 15 Kadyrov’s fighters prisoner because they did not want to fight.

The head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak responded to these stories.

"Russian terrorists have confessed to killing Ukrainian children in Bakhmut and Soledar. Now we are talking about war criminals from the Wagner PMC, but this sheds light on the crimes of the Russian army in Ukraine. They steal our children and kill them," Yermak wrote.

He once again reminded us that Russia is a nation of inhumans and murderers.

"A confession is not enough. There must be punishment. Harsh and fair. And it will definitely be. We will learn all the facts of the crimes and find everyone who committed them. The Russians abducted thousands of Ukrainian children. We do not know how many of them are still alive. We are doing everything to bring our children back. The world should see the face of Russia, not be afraid, but beat it hard," added Yermak.

The Prosecutor General's Office has started checking information about the crimes of the ‘Wagnerites’.

"The Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations has been registered under Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - violation of the laws and customs of war. The circumstances mentioned in the interview will be checked as part of the investigation of criminal proceedings, they will be given an appropriate legal assessment," the statement said.

In the course of investigations, the head of the Wagner PMC and the head of one of its units were served suspicion notices of waging aggressive war and encroachment on the territorial integrity of Ukraine (Art. 437, Art. 110 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). Individual participants are charged with murder and cruel treatment of civilians (Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

• As of April 17, at least 470 children have been killed and over 948 wounded as a result of Russia's armed aggression in Ukraine.