‘He Has Blood on His Hands’

Mykola Honchar lives in a crumbling stone home in what’s left of a tiny hamlet of japanese Ukraine. The city was attacked by Russian forces in June of final 12 months, because the Wagner mercenary forces had been spearheading a renewed offensive.

Even earlier than the Kremlin set Wagner unfastened to wreak havoc in Ukraine, the Russian marketing campaign was notable for its brutality. But from the second Wagner forces entered the conflict in April 2022, they earned a particular repute for bloodlust from civilians and troopers alike.

To Mr. Honchar, the loss of life this week of Wagner’s chief, Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, accountable for a lot carnage within the conflict, could be becoming — a violent finish to a violent life.

“He has blood on his hands,” mentioned Mr. Honchar, 58. “If there is a god, god will figure out what to do with him.”

Even in a conflict wherein civilians had been shot useless within the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, and the city of Mariupol was bombed into oblivion, Wagner and Mr. Prigozhin cultivated a picture of brutality.

A video was promoted throughout Wagner-affiliated social media of the execution of one among Mr. Prigozhin’s personal troopers with a sledgehammer after he was captured after which launched by the Ukrainians in a prisoner swap. While in custody, the prisoner had taped an interview saying he didn’t consider in Russia’s conflict.

“A dog receives a dog’s death,” Mr. Prigozhin mentioned within the video.

By the time Ukraine regained Mr. Honchar’s village of Bohorodychne, Mr. Honchar was one among solely two individuals left residing within the village, as soon as dwelling to round 800 individuals.

The different particular person was Nina Honchar, his 92-year-old mom. He had stayed there regardless of the hazard to care for her. She died earlier this month.

He doesn’t know if Wagner fighters had been among the many occupiers. “I did not ask for their documents,” he mentioned. But he remembers seeing Russian fighters, who gave the impression to be on medicine, wandering round city of their underwear, their our bodies coated with jail tattoos.

Wagner amplified its power by recruiting prisoners. After Wagner left the battlefield in June of this 12 months, the Russian navy continued using convicts as a part of newly shaped “Storm Z” items alongside probably the most harmful entrance line positions.

To Mr. Honchar, it hardly issues below what banner the troopers fought. The legacy of Wagner and Russian forces, he mentioned, are one and the identical: loss of life, destruction and wreck.

“My brother and his wife were torn apart by shells,” Mr. Honchar mentioned. Before he may bury them, he needed to acquire their physique components. “There was no skull, his hands were scattered,” he mentioned of his brother.

Once he collected what he may discover, he wished to bury them within the native cemetery however it was below fixed assault and too harmful. He laid their stays in a trench and coated them with filth.

When his 80-year-old neighbor died, he buried her within the crater of the shell that killed her.

Looming over the village is the Church of the Holy Mother of God, ‘Joy of All Who Sorrow.’ With its sky blue partitions seen for miles round and majestic golden domes, it was as soon as a draw for vacationers and pilgrims.

Now its partitions are blasted aside, one dome has tumbled to the bottom and the gold leafing blasted away from one other.

When the Russians first got here, Mr. Honchar mentioned, they tied his fingers and took him to the basement of the native faculty to interrogate him. They pointed a gun at him.

“I told them: ‘First kill my mother, and then me,” he recalled, not wanting her to be left alone and watch her son die.

They mentioned he was courageous, he mentioned, and requested the place the Ukrainian troopers had been situated. He instructed them to look within the woods, and that was the tip of the interrogation.

After that, he mentioned, they principally left him alone as they took up positions within the village.

More disciplined troopers occupied the church, he mentioned, however all over the place else a motley crew of troopers from completely different items appeared extra fascinated about scoring medicine than what he was doing.

“The Russians just walked around and drank alcohol,” he mentioned. Most of the drug addicts and drunks frolicked on the faculty, he mentioned.

The wreckage of the conflict litters the varsity constructing, as do the reminders of what Ukraine as soon as was.

On the blackboard of 1 classroom stays a date written in chalk: February 22, 2022. It was the final lesson earlier than the Russian invasion two days later.

There shouldn’t be a single undamaged dwelling in Bohorodychne. The common retailer stays shattered and shuttered. The village authorities heart is gutted, its partitions pockmarked with bullet holes, the roof caved in and a rusted hulk of an armored car standing guard outdoors. Throughout the village, weeds develop wild and the ruins of properties are camouflaged by vegetation.

It is sort of a miniature model of Bakhmut, the japanese Ukrainian metropolis that it took Wagner fighters greater than a 12 months to seize, leveling the town within the course of.

Ukrainian officers say there are a whole bunch of ruined villages like Bohorodychne unfold throughout Ukraine, many leveled by Wagner forces earlier than the group pulled its fighters out of Ukraine.

While the destruction of Bakhmut is surprising for its scale, the devastation of Bohorodychne is heartbreaking for its intimacy.

Mr. Honchar recalled how when he was rising up within the village, there have been dozens of youngsters. They would swim within the river and run via forests crammed with wild pigs and roe deers.

Sometimes, he mentioned, they might sneak off for a smoke and get a rap on the ear or worse in the event that they acquired caught. The first lady he ever kissed lived simply on the opposite aspect of a bridge in a neighboring city.

That bridge was blown up by Ukrainians to sluggish the Russian advance. There aren’t any kids residing within the village now.

He is considering making ready for winter and mentioned he wanted to go to the forest to gather wooden to burn to maintain heat.

But Ukrainian troopers have instructed him that expedition is just too harmful. Mines nonetheless litter the land.

Mr. Honchar does not likely consider Mr. Prigozhin is useless. But he is aware of his village is gone. Still, he hopes life will return sooner or later.