The notorious Wagner group is known for its brutal handling of the Ukraine war.
The mercenaries are said to have now apparently beaten up their commander.
KIEV – Fierce fighting continues to rage around Bakhmut in the Donetsk region.
Not only are Russian soldiers trying to break through the defenses of the Ukrainian troops here, mercenaries from the notorious Wagner troop have also been active in the Ukraine war for months.
Reports repeatedly show a desolate picture of Russia's army with low morale.
But there also seems to be tension within the Wagner group, as reported by fr.de.
A video published on Twitter is said to show fighters from the paramilitary organization near Bakhmut beating their commander.
News about the Ukraine war: Alleged Wagner fighters beat up commander
The video was shared by Ukrainian blogger Melaniya Podolyak last week.
The footage is said to have come from a Ukrainian reconnaissance drone,
Newsweek
reported .
It apparently shows four fighters from the Wagner group dragging their commander's hands and feet across the ground.
Pictures of the Ukraine war: great horror and small moments of happiness
Pictures of the Ukraine war: great horror and small moments of happiness
In a sequence that follows, the men behind a barrack appear to be hitting the man with an object, possibly a shovel or sledgehammer.
The authenticity and timing of the video is difficult to independently verify.
It is also unclear whether the men actually beat their commander, because the building blocks the view.
Wagner mercenaries apparently hit commander: "A very clear message"
"The Russians of Gruppe Wagner are dragging their wounded commander behind them," blogger Podolyak captioned the video.
"So much for 'great Russian culture.'
A very clear message for any commander of the Russian military.”
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Wagner Group fighters conduct reconnaissance work along the front line in Luhansk.
(archive image)
© Viktor Antonyuk/imago
That doesn't come as a surprise, however.
The Wagner group is known for its brutal tactics in Ukraine, including extrajudicial executions to deter deserters.
Executions and torture were common among the Wagner mercenaries, Vladimir Osechkin, a Russian human rights activist and founder of the anti-corruption organization
gulag.net
, told
Newsweek
.
Ukraine war: Wagner "systematically killed and tortured people"
"Russian instructors and commanders of the Wagner group killed prisoners who refused to take part in the Ukraine war," Osechkin said.
"Over the past three to four months, people have been systematically killed and tortured for disobeying the group's orders."
The Wagner troupe was founded in 2014 by Yevgeny Prigozhin, who once provided food for the Kremlin in Moscow for years.
Now the private army is doing special assignments on behalf of Vladimir Putin.
Prigozhin increased the losses in the Ukraine war to the last with prison inmates.
In view of the many victims in Bakhmut, Russia is now increasingly relying on its own soldiers and is gradually replacing the mercenaries, the US Institute for the Study of War (ISW) informed.
(
kas
)
List of rubrics: © Viktor Antonyuk/imago