“Wagner” PMC sent empty coffins to the families of its mercenaries fighting on the side of Russia in Ukraine, writes “Meduza”, which tells the story of a woman whose husband was detained and who eventually fought on Wagner’s side.

Journalists of the TV channel “Rain” talked to a woman whose husband was in a colony in Russia and who allegedly joined the “Wagner group”. She said that she learned about her husband’s recruitment from the wife of another detainee, but doubts that he willingly joined the group because he was on the side of Ukraine.

The woman also said that in the fall her husband stopped answering calls and messages, and in December she was contacted by PMK representatives and informed that he had died on the battlefield near Bakhmut. She was later given a sealed coffin, official Wagner group medals and a death certificate.

When she asked if she could be sure that the body in the coffin belonged to her husband, she was told that there could be no mistake: “They said that there was no need to open the coffin, because before the soldiers go to war, they take DNA samples, and when they find the bodies, they compare (the DNA). They told us they could guarantee 100 percent that it was him.”

However, a few weeks after the funeral, the woman allegedly received a message from a stranger that her husband was alive and in the Donetsk region. A few days later, he received a call from a man who identified himself as an employee of the Security Service of Ukraine. And he told her that her husband was alive, claiming that he had been captured by the Ukrainian army at the end of October.

According to the TV channel “Dozhd”, then Angelina allegedly turned to the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia, but they said that they could not provide any information about her husband due to confidentiality rules. However, the Ukrainian military confirmed to her that her husband is among the wounded and is in captivity.

“Doscha” journalists found several similar stories in social networks and Telegram groups, reports Meduza.

Wagner mercenary group boss filmed in basement full of corpses of his fighters: ‘They’ve run out of contracts’

In a video released on New Year’s Day, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, was filmed visiting a basement near Ukraine’s eastern front filled with the corpses of his fighters, many of them former prisoners who had been killed in action. Fighting is fierce for the town of Bakhmut, a key stronghold in Donetsk that Russia has been trying to capture since the summer, The Guardian and News.ro reported on Tuesday.

In Prigozhin’s improvised morgue, corpses are shown on stretchers and in body bags. In the corner of one of the rooms, a pile of body bags can be seen, piled up to the shoulders, and Prigozhin can be heard saying: “They’re out of contract, they’re going home next week. Preparing for shipment. On New Year’s Eve, we all work. The soldiers of Wagner who died at the front rest here. Now they are placed in zinc coffins and will return home.”

And when new bodies are loaded into the truck, Prigozhin can be heard making New Year’s wishes. Prigozhin calls the people who collect the corpses and says: “Happy birthday, good people!”.

Wagner’s group played a key role in the Russian offensive on Bakhmut. Ukrainian military personnel interviewed by The Guardian said the Wagner fighters were often used as shock troops in frontal attacks on their positions, while the newly mobilized Russians were deployed in more defensive roles.

While Ukrainian sources and Russian military blogs have long suggested that the Wagner PMC suffered heavy losses during the months-long assault, Prigozhin’s images and comments seem to confirm that this is the case.