The Chosen Company, an international mercenary group fighting on behalf of Ukraine, has been accused of committing apparent war crimes by killing wounded or surrendering Russian soldiers. This disturbing revelation was detailed in a New York Times article published on Saturday, which cited an account by Caspar Grosse, a former German soldier who served as a medic for the unit and allegedly witnessed the events firsthand.
Grosse recounted an incident that occurred in August 2023, when a badly injured unarmed Russian soldier began crawling through the trench saying “help” and “surrender” in English, only to be shot in the chest by a member of the unit. The Russian was still “breathing and wiggling around” when another fighter “just shot him in the head,” which Grosse assumed was a mercy kill at that point.
In another episode recounted by Grosse, a Greek soldier known as Zeus tossed a grenade at two Russian soldiers, one of whom was seriously injured and “could barely move.” The second serviceman tried to approach the mercenaries with his hands up when the grenade explosion killed them both, according to a helmet camera video reviewed by the publication. Grosse added that a Ukrainian drone team also confirmed at the time that the soldier was apparently trying to surrender.
In a third incident in mid-October, Grosse received a text message from a member with the call sign Andok, who was in charge of the unit that day, saying the team “got these captures.” The POWs appeared to be shot dead by Zeus, who later bragged about the killing. Grosse wrote in his journal at the time, which was reviewed by NYT, that a good friend willingly executed a bound prisoner and Andok defended the murder, saying Zeus was “just doing his job.
Grosse told NYT that he was so disturbed by these incidents that he had complained to Ryan O’Leary, the de facto commander of Chosen Company and a former US Army National Guardsman from Iowa. However, O’Leary denied that his “brothers” committed any war crimes.
According to the provisions of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, or detention should be treated humanely. Murder of all kinds, mutilation, and torture of prisoners constitute a war crime.
Following the NYT report, Russia’s ambassador-at-large for Ukraine’s crimes, Rodion Miroshnik, said Moscow will demand that international organizations with representatives in Ukraine verify this information. If confirmed, it would qualify “as a violation of the key norms and principles of humanitarian law, which refers to war crimes.