A captured fighter from Russia’s Wagner Group has told his Ukrainian captors that he is more afraid of Russian President Vladimir Putin than he is of dying on the battlefield, a Ukrainian soldier has revealed to CNN.
In an audio recording of the Ukrainian soldier interrogating the Russian prisoner, he told the man: “Obviously, you know you’re going to be killed.” [en la batalla]but you are afraid to fight for your freedom in your country”.
“Yes, this is true,” the Ukrainian soldier identified as Andriy recalled the man replying. “We are afraid of Putin.”
Wagner’s fighter was an engineer, CNN reported, citing the audio recording. According to the outlet, he had started selling drugs in Russia to earn more money and joined Wagner in hopes of expunging his criminal record so that her daughter, who wants to be a lawyer, would have fewer obstacles in her future. she.
He asked the soldier when he realized it was “just meat,” to which he replied: “On the first combat mission. They took us to the front on December 28 at night.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has made it known under his horn that they need a “victory of any kind” before the first anniversary of his invasion of Ukraine, and is sending his troops into some of the most heavily defended areas of Ukraine to try to get it.
To achieve this, Russia has been sending prisoners recruited by the Wagner Group and newly mobilized troops to the front lines to clear the way for its better-trained forces, which intervene later, a US official said, Insider previously reported.
Wagner, a private military contracting group with close ties to the Kremlin, was designated a “major transnational criminal organization” by the US government last week and its global network was targeted with a series of sanctions.
The White House said in January that the group had some 10,000 mercenaries and 40,000 former prisoners deployed in Ukraine, where it joined Moscow’s war efforts.
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