'I Shot A 5-Year-Old': Russian Wagner Fighters Admitting To Murdering Ukrainian Children

Two fighters for Russia's infamous Wagner private military company (PMC) confessed to murdering Ukrainian children amid the war, according to videos released by a Russian organization.

The Wagner fighters, who identified themselves as Azamat UIdarov from Saratov Oblast and Alexei Savichev from Voronezh Oblast, said they shot over 20 Ukrainian children and teenagers in Soledar and Bakhmut. One of the Wagner fighters also admitted that he shot a 5-year-old Ukrainian girl in the head.

"She screams – she's a small child, you know. I shot a five- or six-year-old girl in the head. A kill shot," Uldarov admitted in recorded testimonies released by Gulagu.net, a Russian anti-corruption and anti-torture human rights organization, as translated by Ukrainska Pravda.

In addition to killing children, Uldanov said they blasted a pit having at least 50 wounded Ukrainian prisoners and Russian soldiers who refused to carry out kill orders against Ukrainians. In Bakhmut, he said Wagner fighters were also ordered to mop up buildings. One such building had about 300 to 400 civilians, 40 of whom were children.

"I carried out the order with this very hand, I killed children. You understand, by order. The fact that we... We were given the order to mop up and kill everyone... We went there and we killed everyone – women, men, pensioners and children, including little ones, five-year-olds," Uldarov continued.

Both Wagner fighters said the kill orders personally came from the head of their group, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

The video posted by Gulagu.net lasted 77 minutes. It was noted that neither Savichev nor Uldarov said they repented for the crimes they did in Ukraine. It was also noted that Uldarov was drunk while the testimonials were being filmed.

Russian troops have been accused of carrying out multiple war crimes in Ukraine. Apart from murdering Ukrainians, Moscow's forces have also raped and tortured civilians, including children as young as 4, according to findings from a United Nations investigation.

As of April 9, at least 501 children had been killed and 994 sustained injuries as a result of Russia's invasion, per a report from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). The organization noted that the actual figures are likely higher as not all civilian casualties are being reported.