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A convicted murderer released from prison to fight for Russia’s Wagner group has become the second mercenary to be beaten to death with a sledgehammer after defecting to Ukraine.
Dmitry Yakushchenko, 44, had his head taped to a what appears to be a pile of bricks with cling film before being bludgeoned to death with the sledgehammer in a horrifying execution that was filmed and published on messaging app Telegram.Â
Yakushchenko was accused of treason for deserting after arriving on the front line. He was later recaptured by his former Wagner colleagues, who went on to execute him.Â
The 44-year-old is now the second Wagner fighter to be executed with a sledgehammer after convicted murderer Yevgeny Nuzhin, 55, was killed by his countrymen in November last year.
Harrowing video shows Yakushchenko confessing to surrendering to Ukraine as his head was strapped tightly to a block of bricks with cling film, while a man with a sledgehammer stands behind him.Â
Dmitry Yakushchenko, 44, had his head taped to bricks with clingfilm before being bludgeoned to death with the sledgehammer in a harrowing ordeal that was filmed and published online
Yakushchenko (pictured) was accused of treason for defecting to Ukraine after arriving on the front line
Yakushchenko, wearing military uniform, said he ‘realised this was not my war’ after he was sent to fight for Putin and said he had been hit in the head on the streets of Dnipro, central Ukraine, and woken up in the room with his head strapped.Â
Yakushchenko added that he was told he was going to be tried for desertion.Â
At this moment, the man standing behind him lifted the sledgehammer and hit Yakushchenko in the head, the sound of his skull cracking audible on the video.
Yakushchenko is hit twice more, his body slumped on the ground after the blows.
Reports in Russia say that Yakushchenko was a convicted murderer and robber who had been released from a 19-year jail sentence to fight in Putin’s war.Â
As he reached the front line with Wagner mercenaries, he surrendered to Ukraine. Â
But he had apparently been handed back to the notoriously brutal Wagner group in a prisoner swap.
Before he was executed, he spoke to the camera:Â ‘I am Dmitry Yakushchenko, born in 1978, in Crimea.Â
‘I went to the front in the ranks of the Wagner PMC [private military company].
‘At the front, I realised this was not my war…
‘Today I was in the streets of Dnipro, where I received a blow to the head and lost consciousness.
‘I woke up in this room where I was told that I was going to be tried [for desertion].’Â
His murder echoes the execution of convicted murderer Yevgeny Nuzhin, 55, who was also bludgeoned to death with a sledgehammer.Â
Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Putin henchman, has previously threatened to kill ‘traitors’ who leave the front line, and defended the murder of Nuzhin
His murder echoes the execution of convicted murderer Yevgeny Nuzhin, 55, who was also bludgeoned to death with a sledgehammer (pictured moments before his death)Â Â
He too had been handed back by the Ukrainians in an official PoW swap.
Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Putin henchman, has previously threatened to kill ‘traitors’ who leave the front line, and defended the murder of Nuzhin, as did Putin’s propagandists.
Yakushchenko, from Crimea, was initially recorded by the Ukrainians explaining how he escaped after being sent to the front line.
‘I planned to find some way to escape,’ he said. ‘My fourth day started, I took my machine gun, some magazines, [and] a couple of grenades….
‘I crawled somewhere and lay down until the shooting stopped, drones were flying.’
‘I kept moving and my position turned out to be on the Ukrainian side. If any Russians have a chance to leave, they better do so.’Â
Yakushchenko, from Crimea, was initially recorded by the Ukrainians explaining how he escaped after being sent to the front line
Yakushchenko said he hoped Crimea would return to Ukraine, he told his interrogators.
The Ukrainians included Yakushchenko in a major PoW swap earlier this month which also saw Russia hand back the bodies of British aid workers Chris Parry, 28, and colleague Andrew Bagshaw, 47, according to Cheka-OGPU Telegram channel.
The video of Yakushchenko’s execution was shared by the Grey Zone Telegram channel, which is linked to Wagner.
Yakushchenko appears to have been convicted of murder in Crimea when it was still under Ukrainian control, prior to Putin’s annexation in 2014.
He was then transferred to a jail in Engels in Russia.
It was from here that he was recruited as part of the Russian scheme to free killers, rapists and other criminals to fight against Ukraine, offering them a pardon if they survive for six months.
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