Russia’s Wagner mercenary group has released a video appearing to show the brutal killing of one of its soldiers who defected to the Ukrainians.

The video, on the Wagner-linked Telegram channel Grey Zone, shows the soldier giving his name and details of his recruitment, before a man hits him with a sledgehammer in a cellar.

Wagner released a similar sledgehammer “execution” video three months ago.

Wagner has thousands of troops involved in heavy fighting in Ukraine.

The group, which calls itself a private military company, began operations in 2014 in Crimea.

It has since operated in Syria, other parts of Ukraine, and across Africa, and has been accused of brutality and war crimes.

In an accompanying text post, Grey Zone named the alleged “traitor” as Crimea-born Dmitry Yakushchenko, 44, who defected to Ukraine four days after becoming a Wagner fighter.

The first part of the video showed him in Ukrainian captivity – the BBC has established that the clip came from Ukrainian channel Espreso.TV.

In it, Yakushchenko suggested that Crimea might return to Ukraine’s control in a couple of years.

According to the text, he had been jailed earlier for murder but had seized the chance to fight for Wagner in order to leave jail. Wagner is known to have recruited men from Russian prisons.

The video then cuts to a shot of Yakushchenko sitting in a cellar with his head taped to construction debris set against a stone wall.

Another man is standing behind him holding a sledgehammer. A caption calls the scene “trial for treachery”.

Seconds before the killing, Yakushchenko – seemingly describing how he was captured after defecting – describes how he was hit on the head by assailants in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro.

He lost consciousness and later woke up in the cellar “where I was told I would be tried”.

At the point where the first hammer blow is struck the video goes blurred and Yakushchenko falls backwards. Further blows are struck, then a caption reads “the court session is adjourned”.

The Grey Zone post makes a sarcastic comment about Yakushchenko’s death, referring back to Wagner’s November “execution” of Yevgeny Nuzhin, who was also a former prison inmate.

“Like his colleague Yevgeny Nuzhin earlier, he caught the same disease that makes you lose consciousness in Ukrainian cities, earlier in Kyiv, now in Dnipro, and then wake up in a basement at your last court session,” the post said.

Wagner chief defends brutal killing video

There was no mention in the text or video of where and when the video was shot.

The shadowy mercenary group has adopted a more public profile since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine a year ago – even opening a big headquarters in St Petersburg.

Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin has longstanding links to the Kremlin: he has been nicknamed “Putin’s chef” for providing catering services for the Russian elite and armed forces.

He has given Wagner credit for the offensive on Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, downplaying the Russian army’s role. (BBC)

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