The Russian attack on Ukraine highlights the danger posed by private military groups

2023-04-21 07:59:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

The Russian attack on Ukraine highlights the danger posed by private military

Illustrative photo

They are called mercenaries, contractors or volunteers and fight for both sides in the war in Ukraine. Whether they are considered villains or heroes, their presence has an undeniable impact on the battlefield.

The dark side of the irregular fighting forces involved in Russia's attack on Ukraine was revealed this week when two ex-convicts told a human rights group that they had deliberately killed Ukrainian children and civilians while serving as commanders in the group. Russian Wagner last year.

In videos published on the Russian website Gulagu.net, Azamat Uldarov and Alexey Savichev gave a detailed explanation of the brutality they have inflicted on civilians in Ukraine. "I wasn't allowed to leave anyone alive because the order was to kill anything that came in front of me," Uldarov said, describing how he fatally shot a 5- or 6-year-old girl.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner Group, whose fighters, including ex-convicts of violent crimes, have been instrumental in the months-long battle for control of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, has denied the allegations and threatened the two ex-soldiers with punishment.

But Sean McFate, a former US officer and private military contractor who is now a professor at the National Defense University, said no one should be surprised to see atrocities committed by a military force made up mostly of convicts.

"When you send people from prisons to Ukraine, you create a task force of armed people with problems, and that doesn't end well," he said in an interview with VOA.

McFate added that the use of mercenaries often goes hand in hand with the arms trade and other illegal practices, including human and narcotics trafficking.

Robert Young Pelton, a veteran war journalist who has covered many conflicts around the world, said in an interview that the Wagner Group has become a problem not only for Russia's regular forces, but for their entire country.

"Russia has professional soldiers who have some of the best special skills," Mr. Pelton told VOA. But by activating the Wagner Group in Ukraine, Russia has set a particularly dangerous precedent since they legally "answer to no one."

"Now we have Russians killing people inside Ukraine ... and not really being held accountable, yet they will be integrated back into society inside Russia," Mr. Pelton says.

On the other hand, Ukraine relies on the protection of the country from several outside groups, including some that play a direct role in the fighting.

Among them are the US veteran-led donor-funded organization Project Dynamo, which rescues civilians from war zones in Ukraine and Afghanistan, and the now-disbanded international group Mozart, which evacuated civilians and trained Ukrainian soldiers.

Some of its former members reorganized under a new name, "Sonata," and continue to operate in Ukraine in a more discreet manner, coordinating with both high-level Ukrainian military officers and units of battlefront to understand operational issues and provide technical solutions.

Kiev does not release figures, but based on media estimates, roughly 1,000 to 3,000 foreign volunteers are now defending Ukraine, most of them serving in three battalions of the International Territorial Defense Legion of Ukraine, or the Foreign Legion of Ukraine.

The Legion was formed shortly after Russia launched its full-scale offensive in February 2022, when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for the help of "every friend of Ukraine who wants to join Ukraine in defending the country".

In a written statement to VOA's Ukrainian-language service, the International Legion said many foreigners in the regiment fought bravely and earned high praise from their comrades and commanders, as well as being honored by the state. State honors were also received by some foreign citizens who, as part of other battalions, served in the one-week siege of the "Azovstal" steel factory in Mariupol.

But not all foreigners who have flocked to Kiev's defense have served with high honors.

The New York Times has reported that some foreign volunteers have undermined the war effort, embezzled money and defected to Russia. The Kyiv Independent newspaper has also reported misconduct within the leadership of the International Legion, including physical abuse, threats and sending soldiers on reckless "suicide" missions.

"The problem is that during war you get what we call 'ashes and rubbish', people who don't know what else to do with their lives," Mr McFate said.

"The good guys tend to leave because they don't want to be killed with the bad guys. And what you are left with is the debris from the other wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are not all bad, but this is a common problem of private warfare," he said.

When asked how the Ukrainian Foreign Legion vets its volunteers, they told VOA that all soldiers undergo a screening by recruiters, government background checks and training before being deployed to the battlefield.

But Mr. Pelton says private contractors "always muddy the waters" when they get into a fight. "Within that very narrow segment of foreigners fighting in Ukraine, they are more of a problem than a help because they bring international condemnation, ambiguity and moral questions because these foreigners are here."

Despite the moral and legal uncertainties, some veteran American fighters say they are still willing to fight for the right cause.

One of them is Dan Hampton, one of America's most decorated fighter pilots with 151 missions in the F-16 fighter jet. He is also the author of several books and the CEO of the private military company MVI International, based in the western state of Colorado.

"This is the important issue of Ukraine's war against Russia, this is a black and white conflict. I would go to fight there," Hampton said in an interview with VOA's Ukrainian-language service on March 9.

Hampton, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, suggested that American contractors could help Ukraine with one of its most pressing problems, its need for an improved air combat capability.

Ukraine has been demanding for months that the United States and its allies provide the country with F-16 fighter jets, but the United States has so far resisted, arguing that the planes are so complex that it would take months. maybe years to train Ukrainian pilots.

Hampton suggested that if the F-16 fighter jets were secured, experienced foreign pilots could fly them while Ukrainian pilots trained or continued to fly their existing aircraft./ VOA