Western mercenaries murdering defenseless Russian PoWs: NYT

A New York Times investigation has uncovered war crimes being committed by members of an American-led international volunteer unit fighting alongside the Kiev forces in eastern Ukraine against Russian troops.

The so-called Chosen Company is a US-led international mercenary group accused of killing unarmed Russian soldiers and prisoners of war in at least three separate incidents.

The NYT on Saturday published the report revealing how defenseless Russian Prisoners of War (PoW) are put to death during incarceration by mercenaries.

Western mercenaries are murdering unarmed Russian POWs, according to a German combat medic serving in Ukraine cited by the NYT.

The military doctor, who served with Ukrainian forces, described several executions of Russian PoWs to the NYT.

The German doctor revealed members of the group fighting Russia on behalf of Ukraine, consistently engaged in apparent war crimes by killing wounded or surrendering Russian soldiers, it reported.

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Caspar Grosse, a former German soldier who served as a medic for the unit and allegedly witnessed the disturbing events firsthand, described an incident that occurred in August 2023, when a badly injured unarmed Russian soldier, initially presumed dead, began crawling through the trench saying “help” and “surrender” in English, only to be shot in the chest by a member of the unit.

The Russian was still “breathing and wiggling around” when another fighter “just shot him in the head,” Grosse said, assuming at the time that the summary execution of the Russian soldier at that point was a mercy kill.

Grosse recounted an instance when a Greek soldier with the call sign Zeus, tossed a grenade at two Russian soldiers, one of whom was seriously injured and “could barely move.” The second Russian soldier tried to approach the mercenaries with his hands up when the grenade explosion killed them both, according to a helmet camera video reviewed by the NYT.

He noted that a Ukrainian drone team had also confirmed that the Russian soldier was apparently trying to surrender himself.

Grosse told of another incident in mid-October when he received a text message from a company member, call sign Andok, who was in charge of the unit that day, saying the team “got these captures.” “The POWs appeared to be shot dead by Zeus, who later bragged about the killing."

He had recorded in his journal how Zeus, who was his "friend" back then, killed the unarmed Russian PoWs. “Today a good friend willingly executed a bound prisoner… As the prisoner was sitting in a trench blindage with his jacket draped over his shoulders, Zeus came up behind him and shot him in the back of the head multiple times.”

In his journal, which was reviewed by NYT, Grosse added at the time that Andok had condoned the heinous act by saying Zeus was “just doing his job.”

The former medic for the unit said despite his insistence that the PoWs were to be under his care, the unit commanders declined.  “I specifically said that, because I’m the medic, I want prisoners to be in my care and nobody gets to shoot them.”

Grosse told NYT that he was so upset by the killings that he complained to Ryan O’Leary, the de facto commander of Chosen Company and a former US Army National Guardsman from Iowa.

In response, the American commander of the Western US-led NATO countries' mercenary outfit claimed full responsibility for the merciless killing, falsely saying his company “brothers” had not committed any war crimes by killing the PoWs who were protected under the Geneva Convention.

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As of early 2023, the Chosen Company are attached to the Armed Forces of Ukraine’s 59th Motorized Brigade fighting Russian troops.

On its website, the multinational outfit of "soldiers of fortune ... involved in illegal activities" describes itself as a "Special Purpose Company" (not to be confused with Special Forces) and is comprised of five specialized units, including rifle platoons, reconnaissance and drones squads, and a support team.

The mercenary outfit claims to be a NATO-standardized fully autonomous unit in charge of its own recruitment, selection, training, operational planning and execution (in coordination with Kiev forces).

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www.presstv.ir