Article

2023-09-08 Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

'Two grenades at the window, two grenades at the door, and then you go in and finish off' - ex-mercenaries of Wagner PMC about Prigozhin's criminal orders.

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by Enver Slager8035 2023-09-08 00:00|| || Front Page|| [15 views ] Top

#1 Maksim Zelenov and Aleksey Chernyavsky are former prisoners who sound about as credible as Larry Sinclair.

Posted by Abu Uluque 2023-09-08 13:52|| 2023-09-08 13:52|| Front Page Top

#2 Hey Abu, tossing a grenade before entring a building is SOP in fighting in build up area - at least, it was in my IDF basic 40+ years ago.
I don't know how it became a war crime.

Posted by Grom the Reflective 2023-09-08 14:13|| 2023-09-08 14:13|| Front Page Top

#3 I'll never forget the story of the US Marine who learned in the Infantry Training Regiment the standard urban room clearing technique of grenade through the door and then shelter behind the doorframe. Only it didn't work in a Vietnamese hooch in 1969.

Posted by NoMoreBS 2023-09-08 14:55|| 2023-09-08 14:55|| Front Page Top

#4 ^Real story NoMore?

Posted by Grom the Reflective 2023-09-08 14:57|| 2023-09-08 14:57|| Front Page Top

#5 If you watched the video, he and his team murdered at least 40 civilians in just one apt building on the orders of Prigozhin to "clean" Soledar.

This isn't the first time. Earlier this year two other Wagner convicts revealed atrocities they commuted in Soledar.

"I shot a 5-year-old in the head": Wagner convicts confess to killing children in Bakhmut and Soledar
Quote from Uldarov: "I carried out the order with this very hand, I killed children. You understand, by order. The fact that we… We were given an 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."

The terrorists said the command to mop up Bakhmut came from Prigozhin. He ordered that no one should be spared – neither elderly people nor children. All were to be killed. In Soledar, he said, it was even worse.

Uldarov also said he had "mopped up" the basement of a nine-storey building in Bakhmut where there were 300-400 civilians, 40 of whom were children. He added that he "had no choice" and that he had an order to kill everyone.

The terrorist stated that this happened in March 2023.

Quote from Savichev: "Civilians were coming outside. And the order was: everyone aged 15 and over – all of them were to be shot on sight. 20-24 people were shot, 10 of them were teenagers aged 15 and 17."

Asked how many unarmed civilians they had killed in February 2023, Savichev replied that 15-year-old Ukrainians "can hardly be called civilians".

Both former Wagner unit commanders also said that Prigozhin had personally given the criminal orders for the executions and killing.

Posted by Enver Slager8035 2023-09-08 15:44|| 2023-09-08 15:44|| Front Page Top

#6 Grom, I wasn't there, I heard it in my Infantry Training Regiment training a couple of iterations later in 1969, but I am pretty sure it was a true story.

Posted by NoMoreBS 2023-09-08 15:52|| 2023-09-08 15:52|| Front Page Top

#7 ^Well, it's only funny now.

Posted by Grom the Reflective 2023-09-08 16:09|| 2023-09-08 16:09|| Front Page Top

#8 Eldest son was a sapper in the 173rd in the late unpleasantness. Was the designated door blower on a bunch of raids. Said the bad guys got to where they hid in the back of a room under a mattress or somesuch, and start firing through the door a few seconds after the blast.
Then he realized you didn't necessarily have to use the breaching chain on the door. It works just as well on random walls.
Knock knock.

Posted by ed in texas 2023-09-08 16:40|| 2023-09-08 16:40|| Front Page Top

#9 I highly doubt we had 400 "civilians" in Solendar March 2023. Let alone women and children. Look at any satellite image of the city and you will see it was reduced to rubble come March 2023. Pull up a map and circle the apartment. You cant. Because that apartment doesnt exist.

Here's a BBC article from Jan 2023 that shows the extent of the city's destruction.

Soledar Destruction

Posted by mossomo 2023-09-08 16:56|| 2023-09-08 16:56|| Front Page Top

#10 ^ in Bakhmut where there were 300-400 civilians

Posted by Crereque Clusogum7898 2023-09-08 18:26|| 2023-09-08 18:26|| Front Page Top

23:43 Bangkok Billy
23:33 Gomez Munster8068
23:24 Gomez Munster8068
21:48 Gomez Munster8068
21:14 Gomez Munster8068
20:53 Bangkok Billy
19:35 49 Pan
19:26 Frank G
19:08 49 Pan
19:08 Mercutio
18:50 Procopius2k
18:45 swksvolFF
18:41
18:35 Airandee
18:26 Crereque Clusogum7898
18:14 Frank G
18:09 swksvolFF
18:05 M. Murcek
17:44 Skidmark
17:41 Skidmark
17:36 Skidmark
17:36 Anomalous Sources
17:36 Nero
17:27 Mullah Richard