A Wagner Group fighter who deserted in Ukraine was kidnapped and executed by fellow fighters, a Telegram channel with links to the Russian mercenary outfit claimed Monday, sharing video of the alleged killing.Â
It is the second publicly shared video of a Wagner recruit’s apparent death by sledgehammer in recent months after its leader threatened extrajudicial measures for convicted criminals who flee the battlefield.
Distressed video released by the Wagner group apparently showed Yakushchenko confessing to surrendering to Ukraine as his head was strapped tightly to a block of bricks with cling film, while a man with a sledgehammer stands behind him.
Yakushchenko, wearing military uniform, said he ‘realised this was not my war’ after he was sent to fight for Putin and said he had been hit in the head on the streets of Dnipro, central Ukraine, and woken up in the room with his head strapped.
Yakushchenko added that he was told he was going to be tried for desertion.
At this moment, the man standing behind him lifted the sledgehammer and apparently hits Yakushchenko in the head, the sound of his skull cracking audible on the video.
Yakushchenko appears to be hit twice more, his body slumped on the ground after the blows.
However, a video released later Monday by Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin’s press service showed Yakushchenko alive, MoscowTimes reports.
This new footage was released by Yevgeny Prigozhin – head of Wagner, entitled: ‘Dmitry Yakushchenko – well done.’
In the video, he expresses gratitude to Wagner for ‘sparing’ him in return for ‘bringing valuable information from captivity that saved many’ Russian fighters’ lives.
‘Everyone has the right to fix their mistakes,’ he said on camera.
‘And I’m still ashamed of it. But it was the only way I could survive. When I came out of captivity, I brought a lot of valuable information that saved a lot of mens’ lives.
‘So I was forgiven, for which I am very grateful.’
According to Daily Mail, Dmitry Yakushchenko, 44, was accused of treason for deserting after arriving on the front line. He was later recaptured by his former Wagner colleagues.
Prigozhin himself gave a bizarre rambling answer when asked about the execution, but implying there were more episodes to come.
‘Don’t take everything so sadly. The kids are having fun,’ he said, before alluding to Soviet era war films.
‘You thought that the film about Yakushchenko [was a] a single-episode drama ‘The Dawns Here Are Quiet’, but I think it’s more like ‘Seventeen Moments of Spring’, a series.
‘We can share the next series with you…. Good will always triumphs over evil, you know.’
Reports in Russia say that Yakushchenko was a convicted murderer and robber who had been released from a 19-year jail sentence to fight in Putin’s war.
The authenticity of the two videos was cast into doubt – after the execution video appeared it may have been staged by the Wagner private military to look exactly like the one carried out on Nuzhin – also, there was no definitive proof that Yakushchenko remains alive, as mystery shrouds the apparent execution.
