They killed children and teenagers in Bakhmut. The Wagners talked about their crimes. How Ukraine and Prigozhin react

"Look, I'm holding a cigarette in my hand. With that same hand I executed the order - I killed the children."
Such confessions are made by a person who calls himself Azamat Uldarov. He is a former prisoner and fighter of the Russian private military company Wagner.
The confession of the Wagnerian was published by the human rights project Gulagu.net. He deals with the fight against torture in Russian prisons. Both interviews were recorded with prisoners recruited by Wagner for the war in Ukraine. This procedure was called "Project K" at Wagner.
Azamat Udarov was in the penal colony in Nizhny Tagil, he was pardoned by the decree of President Vladimir Putin on August 23, 2022. Another Wagnerian, Aleksij Savičev, was similarly pardoned on September 2. Investigators made public the scanned decrees.
According to information from the Gulagu.net project, both Wagners are currently in the Russian Federation and voluntarily testified via video link.
Their words testify to the large number of crimes that fighters of the private military company Wagner could have committed on the territory of Ukraine.
BBC Ukraine cannot quickly verify what Udarov and Savichev say in the video.
Andriy Jermak, the chief of staff of the President of Ukraine, has already reacted to this investigation.
Serhiy Cherevati, one of the spokespersons of the Ukrainian armed forces, also commented on this for the BBC.
The leader of the Wagnerians has already stated that his fighters do not kill children.

Killing teenagers and prisoners

Former convict Aleksij Savičev, who served 30 years behind bars, was given the position of commander of the reconnaissance group in Wagner.
He stated that he knows about the murder of at least 70 Wagnerians who were not liked by the management. For example, one was shot for detaining five Kadir people.
Savičev also spoke about the crimes committed by mercenaries against the civilian population in the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk. For example, at the end of January of this year, Wagner carried out the order of his commander with the call sign Gilgamesh to eliminate several dozen prisoners and "traitors" among the Wagner fighters in Bahmut.
According to him, the bodies of about 60 men were thrown into a large ditch. There were still living people among them. According to the man's confession, Savičev and other mercenaries threw 30 grenades into the trench.
"I was ordered to come, blow up and burn. I didn't look at how many men were still breathing, how many were alive," the man said in the video.
In early February, Savicheva's unit, according to him on the video, committed the murder of Ukrainian teenagers who were in the occupied territory near Bakhmut. He admitted that they had no weapons and did not fight.
"An order came to immediately shoot everyone over the age of 15. Simple and without words."
According to him, about 20 to 25 Ukrainians were killed, including about 10 teenagers aged 15 to 17.
Wagner explained that the Ukrainians were shot because of their tattoos, which were found on their bodies.
Savičev says that he was often ordered to "clean house", which meant to destroy everything, including civilians, who were in a certain building.
Wagner insists that he carried out such orders out of fear that he himself would be killed if he disobeyed them.

Murder of a child

"We received an order to clean and destroy everything," the second commander of the Wagner unit, Azamat Uldarov, told Gulagu.net about the actions in Soledar and Bahmut at the beginning of this year.
He says that the order to "kill everyone" was given by the owner, Yevgenij Prigozhin. They killed children, women and pensioners. Uldarov specifically told how he shot a small child with his own hands.
"He's screaming, because he's a small child, he's 5-6 years old. And I fired a control shot, because there was a team to clean up, to destroy everyone who stood in our way," said Wagner's member.
He also says that he witnessed the killing of around 20 prisoners with a hammer. Among them were Ukrainians and Russians who blamed the management of Wagner.

Uldarov says most of the Ukrainian soldiers captured by Wagner were killed. Out of 100, they kept three maximum, he says.

"We eliminated them. We didn't ask for an explanation, because we are nobody. We got the command and we destroyed them. Because we are Putin's team," said Wagner.
At the same time, on the recording during the conversation, he had clear signs of intoxication.
Wagner representatives are sure that their crimes will not be investigated in the Russian Federation, because they are carrying out the orders of Vladimir Putin.

Reaction to recognition

The owner of Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, reacted to the interviews of his former commanders. The press service published his comment in which he notes that he did not see the video with Savičev and Uldarov in its entirety, but assures that Wagner did not shoot the children.
"As for killing children - of course, nobody ever shoots civilians or children, it's absolutely unnecessary."
Prigozhin also assures that these recognitions of the Wagner family will not destroy his career.
"I don't have a career, so it's impossible to destroy it."
The command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine stated that it is very likely that the Wagner fighters actually committed the crimes alleged by Uldarov and Savichev.
"We heard information about Wagner's possible murders of civilians, teenagers and very young children in the period February-March 2023 in Soledar and Bakhmut. This is quite possible given the social cross-section of the personnel engaged in the operations of the Wagner terrorist organization," Serhiy Cherevaty, spokesman for the Eastern Operational Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, told BBC Ukraine.
He emphasized that the Wagners are criminals, many of them have been sentenced to heavy prison terms.
"The cult of violence is propagated there, both against the enemy and against their own soldiers for the smallest misdeeds. The enemy is depopulation, Ukrainians are humiliated as people. We saw the bloody trail of the personnel of the Russian army in Bucha, but what can we expect from an organization that consists only of criminals" .
According to Chrevati, the law enforcement agencies of Ukraine are systematizing all this information, and this will be another proof of Russian crimes, including in international courts.
He also explained what could have caused such cruelty of the Russians during the battles for Bahmut.
"It was in February-March that they suffered incredible losses, which intensified their great anger. They did not manage to achieve even medium tasks, such as the capture of Bahmut. They managed to capture small settlements, the largest of which was Soledar. Therefore, they vented their anger on the prisoners and peaceful inhabitants".
The chief of staff of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, said that the Russian Federation should be punished for these crimes.
"One confession is not enough. There must be punishment. Harsh and fair. And it will certainly be. We will find out all the facts about the crimes and find everyone who committed them."