Posted by Tintin
(here)
Apparently the New York Times has run this article documenting the execution of Russian prisoners by volunteer soldiers fighting on behalf of Ukraine.
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In Ukraine, Killings of Surrendering Russians Divide an American-Led Unit
Published: July 6th, 2024
Caspar Grosse, a medic in an international volunteer unit in Ukraine, said he wrote this journal entry in October after a fellow soldier, known as Zeus, recounted executing a Russian prisoner
https://www.nytimes.com/by/thomas-gibbons-neff • July 6 at 05:01
Hours after a battle in eastern Ukraine in August, a wounded and unarmed Russian soldier crawled through a nearly destroyed trench, seeking help from his captors, a unit of international volunteers led by an American.
Caspar Grosse, a German medic in that unit, said he saw the soldier plead for medical attention in a mix of broken English and Russian. It was dusk. A team member looked for bandages.
That is when, Mr. Grosse said, a fellow soldier hobbled over and fired his weapon into the Russian soldier’s torso. He slumped, still breathing. Another soldier fired — “just shot him in the head,” Mr. Grosse recalled in an interview.
Mr. Grosse said he was so upset by the episode that he confronted his commander. He said he spoke to The New York Times after what he regarded as unwarranted killings continued. It is highly unusual for a soldier to speak publicly about battlefield conduct, particularly involving men whom he still considers friends.
But he said he was too troubled to keep silent.
The shooting of the unarmed, wounded Russian soldier is one of several killings that have unsettled the Chosen Company, one of the best-known units of international troops fighting on behalf of Ukraine.
Mr. Grosse’s witness recollection is the only available evidence of the trench killing. But his accounts of other episodes are bolstered by his contemporaneous notes, video footage and text messages exchanged by members of the unit and reviewed by The Times.
In a second episode, a Chosen member lobbed a grenade at and killed a surrendering Russian soldier who had his hands raised, video footage reviewed by The Times shows. The Ukrainian military released video of the episode to showcase its battlefield prowess, but it edited out the surrender.
In a third episode, Chosen members boasted in a group chat about killing Russian prisoners of war during a mission in October, text messages show. A soldier who was briefly in command that day alluded to the killings using a slang word for shooting. He said he would take responsibility.
“If anything comes out about alleged POW blamming, I ordered it,” wrote the soldier, who uses the call sign Andok. He added an image of a Croatian war criminal who died in 2017 after drinking poison during a tribunal at The Hague.
“At the Hague ‘I regret nothing!’” he wrote. It was one of several text messages reviewed by The Times that make reference, directly or obliquely, to killing prisoners. Andok said in an interview that he had been joking.
Mr. Grosse was not on that mission but said that, afterward, a fellow soldier recounted killing a prisoner. Mr. Grosse documented it in his journal.
The Times is identifying frontline soldiers by their call signs in keeping with Ukrainian military protocol. They have not been charged with any wrongdoing.
Killing prisoners of war is a violation of the Geneva Conventions. Once soldiers clearly indicate an intention to surrender, they cannot be attacked and must be safely taken into custody. The Ukrainian government has repeatedly pointed at Russian troops killing unarmed and surrendering soldiers as proof of Moscow’s lawlessness.
A Greek soldier known as Zeus was at the center of all three episodes — tossing the grenade and, Mr. Grosse says, firing at the wounded Russian in the trench and bragging about another kill. He did not respond to messages seeking comment left on his phone and through Facebook.
Ryan O’Leary, the de facto commander of Chosen Company and a former U.S. Army National Guardsman from Iowa, said that Zeus did not want to speak.
In an interview, Mr. O’Leary denied that members had committed war crimes. He said that his fighters had killed wounded Russians, but only those who could have fought back.
Mr. O’Leary said that the trench episode that Mr. Grosse recounted never happened, and that he was not on that mission. He also dismissed the significance of the text messages. “That’s predominantly blowing off steam,” he said.
He said the grenade episode was not “black and white,” because the Russian soldier and another nearby might have posed a threat. The video leaves unanswered questions about what Chosen members saw or considered threats before the attempted surrender.
But in the United States military, a video showing the killing of a surrendering soldier, regardless of the circumstances, would prompt an immediate investigation, said Rachel E. VanLandingham, a professor at Southwestern Law School and a former U.S. Air Force lawyer.
“Failure to investigate is more troubling than the incident itself,” Ms. VanLandingham said. “Lack of accountability starts with lack of investigation.”
The Ukrainian military has the authority to investigate accusations of war crimes and has opened investigations into claims of abuses committed by Russian forces. In response to a list of questions, the military stopped short of promising an investigation. It said “the issue raised will be thoroughly examined and verified.”
The American volunteers are fighting without the backing of the United States government, which does not want to be drawn into direct combat with Russia. But the U.S. Justice Department also can investigate because Mr. O’Leary and other Chosen members are American.
Soon after The Times began asking questions, Mr. O’Leary vowed to find out who was speaking to journalists.
“Some stuff the reporter brought up was only known by a few people,” he wrote in a group chat. “But we will cast a wide net regardless to snare the rabbit.”
Chosen Company
The very existence of the Chosen Company is a peculiar feature of Ukraine’s war effort. Desperate for personnel, the military opened its ranks to thousands of international volunteers after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Fighters with varying degrees of experience and professionalism, some of whom would not have been allowed near a battlefield in an American-led war, were welcomed and armed.
Mr. O’Leary wanted Chosen to be a home for professional, disciplined fighters. The unit — a mix that included deserters, thrill seekers and aging soldiers — became a hub for volunteers seeking combat.
Mr. Grosse, a former German soldier, came to Ukraine seeking purpose and adventure. He fought alongside other foreign fighters early in the war. Then, he found his way to Chosen.
The company, of about 60 people from about a dozen countries, fell under the command of Ukraine’s 59th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade. Ukrainian officers were technically in charge but, as in most foreign units, they largely performed administrative functions.
Chosen often acted as shock troops, teams that could lead assaults and clear Russian positions despite heavy fire and, sometimes, heavy casualties.
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