Brutal footage shows Wagner troops hitting a commander with shovels, then leaving him badly wounded on the Bakhmut front as the morale of Putin’s army of rapists and murderers plummets
- The four men were filmed on the battlefield in Bakhmut in the Donbass region
- The photos of the soldiers are consistent with reports of low morale among Russian troops
Russian fighters were filmed dragging their wounded commander away from the front line before hitting him with shovels.
The men, identified as soldiers from the Wagner mercenary group, were filmed in Bakhmut in the Donbass region, where fierce fighting continues.
A Ukrainian military drone captured the brutal incident earlier this week before it was made public on Ukrainian social media channels.
Behind a barn, the men deliver successive blows with shovels at their wounded commander, leaving him badly injured.
It’s not yet clear exactly why the men aimed at their commander, but the extraordinary footage of the dissenting soldiers adds to reports of the declining morale among Russia’s troops and mercenary units.
In the drone footage, four Wagner troops carry their commander away from the battlefield in Bachmut through a landscape of destroyed buildings
Each man appears to be holding on to one of the commander’s arms or legs as they drag him through the war-torn territory
In the drone footage, four Wagner troops carry their commander away from the battlefield in Bachmut through a landscape of destroyed buildings.
The Wagner Group is a paramilitary organization first used in the 2014 annexation of Crimea and is now a private extension of the Russian army. You have close personal ties with Vladimir Putin, and his sidekick Yevgeny Prigozhin heads the barbaric group.
Each man appears to be holding on to one of the commander’s arms or legs as they drag him through the war-torn territory.
The men then drop him at a barn door a few yards away just before proceeding to beat him.
A second clip shows the Wagner forces partially hidden between two structures, with the wounded commander believed to be lying on the ground.
At this point, shovels can be seen swinging into the air and hitting the ground behind the barn wall.
The extraordinary Ukrainian drone footage is believed to show successive strikes against the commander, whose fate is unknown.
The new footage coincides with reports of low morale and dissension among Russian troops and mercenary groups, which have been constant throughout the war but appear to have increased in recent months.
The Wagner group has close personal ties with Vladimir Putin (left), with his sidekick Yevgeny Prigozhin (right) leading the barbaric group.
The men then set the commander down at a barn door a few yards away just before hitting him
A second clip then shows the Wagner troops partially hidden between two structures, assuming the wounded commander is on the ground
Arms with shovels can be seen shooting up into the air before falling to the ground behind the barn wall
According to reports, the Wagner troops are threatened with execution if they do not continue or make significant advances on the front lines.
Ukrainian troops have reported their corpses littering the battlefield after being mowed down.
While both Kyiv and Moscow continue to escalate their campaigns, brutal fighting has centered around Bakhmut in the Donbass region for months.
The city had a population of about 75,000 before the war, but has now been largely razed into a battlefield.
Putin’s troops and mercenaries have made progress in encircling the region from both the north and south, but Kyiv says its garrison remains firm.