“Stab Him in the Heart”: Wagner Fighter Describes Training on POWs in Mali

A former Wagner fighter described how Russian troops in Mali practiced tactical medicine on living Africans, shooting them and cutting off body parts.

A Russian mercenary captured by Ukrainian forces revealed this in a conversation with journalist Dmytro Karpenko.

In 2023, the mercenary signed a contract with the Wagner Group and arrived in Mali via Syria in September, where he remained until April 2024.

Mercenaries were paid $3,000 a month.

“We had about 120 to 130 people deployed,” the mercenary said.

In Mali, Russian instructors trained newcomers in tactical medicine using captured Africans.

“We would gather for medical training, and the instructors would bring in a captured terrorist, strap a block of TNT to his leg, and set it alight. Everyone would move away, and, of course, his leg would be blown off,” the Russian mercenary said.

The instructors and mercenaries then practiced stopping the bleeding on the prisoner.

“Then they shot him in an artery in the armpit area and performed the same procedure on his arm,” the Russian mercenary shared.

The African prisoner died after such abuse.

The Russians drugged another prisoner and began practicing how to kill a person by stabbing them in the heart.

“They showed us how to stab someone in the heart. They would choose two people who were willing to do it and say, ‘Here, stab him in the heart,’” the mercenary said.

A third prisoner had his leg cut off with an axe so the Russians could practice stopping the bleeding.

“They bandaged the third man’s leg, but they simply cut it off. Then they applied a tourniquet… Basically, they wanted everything to be as it would be in an extreme situation, to make it realistic.”

All of the prisoners died during the Russians’ training.

After returning to Russia, the mercenary signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in August 2025 to go to war against Ukraine.

He joined Russia’s 14th Separate Special Purpose Brigade, which is subordinate to the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

Ukrainian forces captured him during one of the operations.

Russian mercenaries have appeared in reports of crimes against African populations since 2021. In the Central African Republic, UN experts accused so-called Wagner Group “instructors” of violent persecution and intimidation of civilians.