Russia's Wagner Group Orders Soldiers To Blow Themselves Up Than Surrender, Recruit Reveals

Russian soldiers recruited by the infamous Wagner mercenary group are being ordered to blow themselves up instead of surrendering to Ukrainian forces, a former recruit said.

S., a 32-year-old Wagner militant, was recruited by the Wagner Group at the end of August from a Russian penitentiary where he had been serving eight years for a murder sentence. He was later sent to Ukraine in November with orders to attack a gas station behind a forest in Bakhmut. The attack, however, failed after his unit was met with projectiles from Ukrainian forces.

"They said there was a gas station on the top of a hill, and that we needed to go there and capture it. We had RPGs, a machine gun and grenades; I had a rifle. We spread out in a line and started entering the forest. And that was it... Projectiles started flying at us: tanks, artillery [opened fire]. Some became Cargo 300 [a military code for the injured – ed.], some had their arms, legs or heads ripped off," S. told Ukrainska Pravda in an interview.

S. added that he had been hit in the neck and back with shrapnel. He later went to get help from Ukrainian soldiers.

S., who is currently under the custody of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, told the outlet that he wanted to be included in a prisoner swap between Moscow and Kyiv. However, he noted that he does not know what to expect should he be sent back home as the Wagner group's leadership ordered recruits to blow themselves up with a grenade rather than surrender to Ukraine.

In September, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law amendments to the Russian Criminal Code that said soldiers who voluntarily surrender to Ukrainian forces could face between three to 10 years in prison. Those who refuse to participate in combat operations will face up to three years in jail.

Despite the amendment, there have been reports of Russian soldiers being killed for fleeing the war in Ukraine. Earlier this month, it was reported that the Russian army "eliminated" 21 armed recruits who fled from the frontline. At least 13 of the soldiers were recruited from penal colonies.

In November, a video titled The Hammer of Revenge showed a Wagner group mercenary executing 55-year-old Yevgenny Nuzhin with a sledgehammer after he changed sides in September to "fight against the Russians."