The head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhinstated that his men fighting in the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, in the east of the country, they would kill rival soldiers and take no more prisoners.
Prigozhin thus reacted to the publication on a Wagner-affiliated Telegram channel of an alleged recording of two Ukrainians deciding to shoot a Russian prisoner of war. The channel did not say where the recording came from and there is no way to verify its authenticity.
“We will kill everyone on the battlefield. take no more prisoners of war”. Prigozhin said in an audio recording on Sunday.
“We don’t know the name of our man shot down by the Ukrainians,” Prigozhin said, adding that under international law his group was obliged to “care for, treat, not injure” any prisoner of war.
He said his group he did not want to break international law and that he would kill all the soldiers on the battlefield.
Wagner has been reported in conflict zones including the Ukraine, Syria, Libya, Mali and the Central African Republic, where he has been accused of abuse.
Moscow and kyiv have repeatedly accused each other of killing prisoners of war since Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops to invade Ukraine more than a year ago.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced Russian “beasts” in April after a video surfaced showing the beheading of a Ukrainian prisoner. Prigozhin denied accusations by a Russian NGO and a Wagner defector that members of his fighting force were responsible.
Battle at Bakhmut
Bloody clashes in the city of Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine, continue with the gradual advance of Russian forces to the west that threatens to cut off the last supply lines of the Ukrainians, while they offer a tenacious resistance to the invaders.
“On the Donetsk front, assault detachments liberated two blocks in the west of the city of Artiomovsk (Russian name for Bakhmut),” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said in his daily report on Sunday. on the progress of the Russian military campaign in Ukraine.
For its part, the General Staff of Ukraine reported that Russian forces carried out unsuccessful offensive operations near Hryhorivka (9 kilometers to the northwest), Bohdanivka (6 kilometers to the northwest), Khromove and Ivanivske (6 kilometers to the west).
According to soldiers from the 24th Brigade of the Ukrainian Army interviewed by the UNIAN agency, “the Russians destroy everything in Bakhmut.” A motorized forces sergeant with the ID Cerber He described the situation as “complex but under control”noting that the Russians use all kinds of weapons, including artillery and even chemical weapons, in order to drive the Ukrainians out of their positions.
“Once we were victims of an attack like this. Immediately the desire to vomit arises and one’s eyes water. We had not seen this type of projectile before,” said another Ukrainian military officer, a specialist in handling drones.
(With information from AFP and EFE)
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Source-www.infobae.com