Wagner Group allegedly training Ukrainian children to kill Ukrainians

Russian paramilitary organization the Wagner Group is training Ukrainian children to fight for Russia and kill Ukrainians, according to an adviser to the exiled mayor of Mariupol.

A war assessment published Thursday by the U.S.-based think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) pointed out that Petro Andryushenko, adviser to Ukrainian Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko, had shared a video to Telegram on the same day that purportedly shows Wagner Group mercenaries “once again” training Ukrainian children to kill their own.

The 22-second video, which has not been independently verified by Newsweek, appears to show several children training with assault rifles in a room while men wearing military fatigues that feature Russian flag patches stand by. It is not clear when or where the video was taken.

“The Wagnerites conducted a training session for members of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s neo-pioneer Yunarmiya [Young Army],” Andryushenko wrote while sharing the video. “How to fight the enemy. Concretely – with Ukrainians. The apotheosis of military crime.”

More than a year after Putin decided to launch the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the war has taken a devastating toll on the children of Ukraine.

In addition to the more than 500 youths killed during the war, according to the United Nations (UN) human rights office, millions more have been forced to flee their homes.

Those who have remained have suffered due to access to basic services often being unavailable and poverty rates nearly doubling, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

The video shared by Andryushenko on Thursday suggests that the situation could be far worse for children in Russia-occupied areas, which include Mariupol.

Thousands of Ukrainian children have been abducted by Russia-aligned forces during the war and deported to Russia or areas of Ukraine controlled by Moscow.

A significant number of the children have been adopted by Russian families, becoming Russian citizens and being forced to attend camps where they receive “patriotic education,” according to the Associated Press.

Last month, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin, accusing him of being “responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.”

Meanwhile, the Wagner Group has been accused of committing a multitude of atrocities over the course of the nearly 14-month war.

An ISW assessment published this week said that the Wagner Group’s mercenaries had reportedly beheaded Ukrainian troops and placed their heads on spikes near the embattled city of Bakhmut.

The private military group, founded by Russian financier Yevgeny Prigozhin, also allegedly made at least 100 Russian soldiers “disappear” recently after they refused to sign contracts to join Wagner, according to ISW.

Newsweek has reached out to the Wagner Group via email for comment.