Mercenaries receive suicide order: “Wagner fighters are just meat for Russia”

In the war against the Ukraine, the mercenary group Wagner stands out with particularly bestial methods. They are also merciless towards their own fighters. This has recently been proven by new videos in which mercenaries commit suicide out of fear and on the orders of their own militia.

At the latest when a video made the rounds on the Internet last year, in which a Wagner mercenary’s head was smashed in by comrades with a hammer, everyone knew: Yewegni Prigozhin’s militia is brutal and extremely dangerous – even for their own men . Now new films are circulating on Telegram that confirm this again. It shows wounded Wagner mercenaries taking their own lives. A phenomenon that occurs more and more often and shows the greatest desperation among the fighters.

There are now five of these very cruel videos, says Markus Reisner, Colonel of the Austrian Armed Forces, ntv.de. “One video shows a Wagner member who was hit by a drone then shooting himself. A second video also shows a Wagner fighter blowing himself up with a hand grenade after being hit like this.” Both recordings were made outside the town of Bakhmut, northwest of Chromowe. Road 0506 runs there. Wagner troops have set up a position system at the bend in this road to the west, close to the course of the front. From there they try to get closer to Ukrainian positions.

“Here you can see in particular that what Ukraine is saying is true. Wagner fighters are sent into battle pointlessly and hundreds are killed,” says Reisner. Because of drone recordings, this is also clearly visible in pictures. “It shows how ruthless the Russians are here and how little human life counts.”

According to the military expert, there are two reasons why Wagner fighters take their own lives. On the Russian side, pertinent channels and leaflets are calling for people to go “forward to the front” and die, but not to be taken prisoner. “They say: ‘Before you take yourself prisoner, blow yourself up.'” Many do this because Russian propaganda has drummed into them beforehand that if they are held in Ukrainian captivity they will have their genitals cut off or similarly cruel things.

“Shtrafbat” follows World War II tradition

There are also pictures of Wagner mercenaries returning from the front and then being shot by their own commanders. This follows a tradition dating back to World War II. On the Russian side there was a so-called “Shtrafbat” at that time. This comes from the German word Strafbataillon, which was adopted and Russified. “Prisoners were used in the shtrafbats. They were often sent to the front at the beginning of an attack to attack German positions and force them to use up ammunition,” explains Reisner. Only then did other units intervene, hoping that the German ammunition had already been used up.

The insidious thing about it: The Shtrafbats couldn’t go back because otherwise they would have been shot by their own people. Such a situation can now be seen again with the Wagner fighters, says Reisner. The risk of dying from enemy machine gun and artillery fire is extremely high because they attack in a completely hopeless situation. At the same time, the men are forced into battle, knowing that if they refuse to go to the front, they will die. It is the fear of death that is supposed to motivate here.

Ukrainians guide Russians with a drone over the battlefield

“Ultimately, they’re cannon fodder. That means they’re sacrificing soldiers in a pointless fight by running them up against enemy positions,” says Reisner. The Russians have a completely different understanding of people. “It’s a very archaic society.” It is also important to understand Prigozhin’s role in the Russian system. According to the expert, this is not nearly as prominent as is often assumed. The management structure is very different from the western one. From a Russian point of view, the Wagner militia is of no importance at all, even if they fulfill an important task.

This is mainly due to the fact that the troupe consists mainly of prisoners – people who are outside of society in the logic of the Russian prison system. This is also one of the reasons for the criminals to join the Wagner group, because this is the only way for them to return to civil society.

Often the men do not know what to expect in war. They are sent to the battlefield where they are then trapped because they can’t go back. “Another video shows how two soldiers take their own lives. The Ukrainians then used a drone to drop a piece of paper that was wrapped around a stone and asked the third soldier to surrender,” says Reisner . The drone then led him from the positions to the Ukrainian side. The pictures show how desperate the soldier looked. “Wagner mercenaries are just meat to the Russians.”

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