Testimonies of former Wagner fighters: If you refuse an order, you dig your own grave and commanders kill you!

(Patria) - Two former fighters of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, captured by Ukrainian forces late last year, spoke in an interview with CNN about their horrific experiences on the battlefield in eastern Ukraine and how anyone who faltered was immediately shot by their commanders.

CNN is not revealing their identities for security reasons. Ukrainians were present in the room where the interview was conducted. They were told they could stop the interview at any time. Nevertheless, they spoke in detail for over an hour.

Both are married, have children, and were recruited while in prison.

One was serving a 20-year sentence for manslaughter.

They spoke of horrific losses in the "first wave" assaults.

"There were 90 of us. Sixty died in that first assault, killed by mortar fire. A handful were left wounded," one said, recalling his first assault near the village of Bilohorivka.

"If one group is unsuccessful, another is immediately sent. If the second is also unsuccessful, a new group is sent."

Another fighter participated in an assault that lasted five days, through a forest near the city of Lysychansk on the Luhansk-Donetsk border in eastern Ukraine.

"The first steps into the forest were difficult due to mines. Out of 10 guys, seven were killed immediately," he said.

"The wounded cannot be helped. Even if their wounds were minor, you have to keep going, otherwise you will be hit by fire. The Ukrainians were shooting at us fiercely."

"People are dying next to me, praying to God, begging for water. You think you can lay down your weapons and nothing more will happen. And then the fighting starts again 10 minutes later, and the Ukrainians keep following you. Just wave after wave."

"Four hundred Wagner fighters were brought there, and then more and more, all the time."

The prisoner says his survival instinct kicked in, but others froze.

"Some stopped right there in the forest and threw down their weapons. But throwing down your weapons means coming under sniper fire and dying."

He added that there was no evacuation of the wounded. "If you are wounded, you first roll yourself away, somehow, to a neutral place where there is no fire, and if no one is there, you provide first aid yourself," he said.

Casualties piled up into the dozens, they said.

"When casualties arrive, you get orders to load them, and you don't really think about who is dead and who is wounded," one of the fighters said.

During their weeks on the front lines, the two men said they had only one instinct.

"Just to survive. I only had the desire to survive, no matter the cost," said the prisoner who participated in the forest assault.

They became desensitized to the casualties and the killing of Ukrainian soldiers they faced. "You would think you would feel something after killing someone, but no, you just keep going."

The alternative to walking through minefields towards Ukrainian artillery was equally deadly, they say.

"We couldn't retreat without orders, because if we didn't follow the order, we would be killed," said one of the prisoners.

"One man stayed in his position, he was very scared, it was his first assault. We were ordered to run forward. But the man hid under a tree and refused. This was reported to the command and that was it. He was taken 50 meters from the base. He dug his own grave, and then he was killed."

Another fighter reported a similar situation: "Our commander was told that if someone cooled off, he had to be eliminated. And if we failed to eliminate him, we would be eliminated because we failed to eliminate him."

The two men described how Wagner recruited them.

In August and September last year, group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin arrived by helicopter at the prisons where they were held, offering six-month contracts in exchange for a pardon.

One of the interviewed men had 10 years left to serve in prison.

"I calculated that six months is better than 10 or 11 years that I could still spend in prison... I just wanted a new start in life," he said.

At the time, Prigozhin's recruitment drive in Russian prisons was in full swing. Western intelligence officials and prison advocacy groups estimate that between 40,000 and 50,000 men were recruited.

Prigozhin said on Thursday that the prison recruitment campaign had ended, but did not give a reason.

The two men also feel deceived about the nature of the conflict.

"We thought we would be fighting Poles and various mercenaries. Germans. We didn't think anyone was left in the Ukrainian army. We thought they had left the country," one said.

"So it became clear that they were just spinning lies to get us into battle with the Ukrainians. No one really thought that the AFU (Armed Forces of Ukraine) would actually fight for their own country, for their loved ones. We only learned that after we got in there."

The prisoners said it was almost a relief to be captured.

One said that he and a wounded comrade were the only survivors in his group, caught "between two Ukrainian mortars and snipers."

"The command ordered me to dig in at my position, so I dug in at my position, waiting for evacuation. They sent one group of 10, and a sniper eliminated all 10," he recalled.

"Then the command told us via walkie-talkie: Get out however you can, you are on your own."

Then, as he said, Ukrainian soldiers "approached and fired a shot next to my leg, said 'hands up' and that was it."

When asked if they would make the same decision again, the prisoners paused for a moment.

"I think it was the wrong choice... I have never participated in any military operation, especially fighting the AFU, which refuses to give up its country. We were brought here under false pretenses. And so we are at war, but I don't think it's a just cause," one said.

Another prisoner agreed. "I don't think it was worth it. Now I hope I can turn over a new leaf."

He said that since being captured, he has been able to contact his family.

"They thought I was dead until I contacted them. They cried and were surprised that I was alive."

Both said they wanted to return to Russia.

One said: "I don't care about Russia, I just want to go home."