\n<\/p>\n
Hours after a battle in eastern Ukraine in August, a wounded and unarmed Russian soldier crawled through a nearly destroyed trench, seeking help from his captors, a unit of international volunteers led by an American.<\/p>\n
Caspar Grosse, a German medic in that unit, said he saw the soldier plead for medical attention in a mix of broken English and Russian. It was dusk. A team member looked for bandages.<\/p>\n
That is when, Mr. Grosse said, a fellow soldier hobbled over and fired his weapon into the Russian soldier\u2019s torso. He slumped, still breathing. Another soldier fired \u2014 \u201cjust shot him in the head,\u201d Mr. Grosse recalled in an interview.<\/p>\n
Mr. Grosse said he was so upset by the episode that he confronted his commander. He said he spoke to The New York Times after what he regarded as unwarranted killings continued. It is highly unusual for a soldier to speak publicly about battlefield conduct, particularly involving men whom he still considers friends.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
But he said he was too troubled to keep silent.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The shooting of the unarmed, wounded Russian soldier is one of several killings that have unsettled the Chosen Company, one of the best-known units of international troops fighting on behalf of Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Mr. Grosse\u2019s witness recollection is the only available evidence of the trench killing. But his accounts of other episodes are bolstered by his contemporaneous notes, video footage and text messages exchanged by members of the unit and reviewed by The Times.<\/p>\n
In a second episode, a Chosen member lobbed a grenade at and killed a surrendering Russian soldier who had his hands raised, video footage reviewed by The Times shows. The Ukrainian military released video of the episode to showcase its battlefield prowess, but it edited out the surrender.<\/p>\n
In a third episode, Chosen members boasted in a group chat about killing Russian prisoners of war during a mission in October, text messages show. A soldier who was briefly in command that day alluded to the killings using a slang<\/a> word for shooting. He said he would take responsibility.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIf anything comes out about alleged POW blamming, I ordered it,\u201d wrote the soldier, who uses the call sign Andok. He added an image of a Croatian war criminal who died in 2017 after drinking poison during a tribunal at The Hague.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the Hague \u2018I regret nothing!\u2019\u201d he wrote. It was one of several text messages reviewed by The Times that make reference, directly or obliquely, to killing prisoners. Andok said in an interview that he had been joking.<\/p>\n Mr. Grosse was not on that mission but said that, afterward, a fellow soldier recounted killing a prisoner. Mr. Grosse documented it in his journal.<\/p>\n The Times is identifying frontline soldiers by their call signs in keeping with Ukrainian military protocol. They have not been charged with any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n Killing prisoners of war is a violation of the Geneva Conventions. Once soldiers clearly indicate an intention to surrender, they cannot be attacked and must be safely taken into custody. The Ukrainian government has repeatedly pointed at Russian troops killing unarmed and surrendering soldiers<\/a> as proof of Moscow\u2019s lawlessness.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n A Greek soldier known as Zeus was at the center of all three episodes \u2014 tossing the grenade and, Mr. Grosse says, firing at the wounded Russian in the trench and bragging about another kill. He did not respond to messages seeking comment left on his phone and through Facebook.<\/p>\n Ryan O\u2019Leary, the de facto commander of Chosen Company and a former U.S. Army National Guardsman from Iowa, said that Zeus did not want to speak.<\/p>\n In an interview, Mr. O\u2019Leary denied that members had committed war crimes. He said that his fighters had killed wounded Russians, but only those who could have fought back.<\/p>\n Mr. O\u2019Leary said that the trench episode that Mr. Grosse recounted never happened, and that he was not on that mission. He also dismissed the significance of the text messages. \u201cThat\u2019s predominantly blowing off steam,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He said the grenade episode was not \u201cblack and white,\u201d because the Russian soldier and another nearby might have posed a threat. The video leaves unanswered questions about what Chosen members saw or considered threats before the attempted surrender.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n But in the United States military, a video showing the killing of a surrendering soldier, regardless of the circumstances, would prompt an immediate investigation, said Rachel E. VanLandingham, a professor at Southwestern Law School and a former U.S. Air Force lawyer.<\/p>\n \u201cFailure to investigate is more troubling than the incident itself,\u201d Ms. VanLandingham said. \u201cLack of accountability starts with lack of investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n The Ukrainian military has the authority to investigate accusations of war crimes and has opened investigations<\/a> into claims of abuses committed by Russian forces. In response to a list of questions, the military stopped short of promising an investigation. It said \u201cthe issue raised will be thoroughly examined and verified.\u201d<\/p>\n The American volunteers are fighting without the backing of the United States government, which does not want to be drawn into direct combat with Russia. But the U.S. Justice Department also can investigate because Mr. O\u2019Leary and other Chosen members are American.<\/p>\n Soon after The Times began asking questions, Mr. O\u2019Leary vowed to find out who was speaking to journalists.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cSome stuff the reporter brought up was only known by a few people,\u201d he wrote in a group chat. \u201cBut we will cast a wide net regardless to snare the rabbit.\u201d<\/p>\n The very existence of the Chosen Company is a peculiar feature of Ukraine\u2019s war effort. Desperate for personnel, the military opened its ranks to thousands of international volunteers after Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion in February 2022.<\/p>\n Fighters with varying degrees of experience and professionalism, some of whom would not have been allowed near a battlefield in an American-led war, were welcomed and armed.<\/p>\n Mr. O\u2019Leary wanted Chosen to be a home for professional, disciplined fighters. The unit \u2014 a mix that included deserters, thrill seekers and aging soldiers \u2014 became a hub for volunteers seeking combat.<\/p>\n Mr. Grosse, a former German soldier, came to Ukraine seeking purpose and adventure. He fought alongside other foreign fighters early in the war. Then, he found his way to Chosen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The company, of about 60 people from about a dozen countries, fell under the command of Ukraine\u2019s 59th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade. Ukrainian officers were technically in charge but, as in most foreign units, they largely performed administrative functions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Chosen often acted as shock troops, teams that could lead assaults and clear Russian positions despite heavy fire and, sometimes, heavy casualties.<\/p>\n Internally, the company had its own reputation. Benjamin Reed, a former Chosen member from Massachusetts, said in an interview that he \u201cheard, to such a large degree, innumerable conversations, about the executions of P.O.W.s on various operations.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Reed said that even the unit\u2019s recruiter told him that it \u201cwas OK to kill P.O.W.s if they didn\u2019t surrender in the strictest Geneva Convention standards.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n On Aug. 23, 2023, just over a dozen soldiers from Chosen joined a small Ukrainian force on a mission that became known as Operation Shovel.<\/p>\n The goal was to drive Russian forces out of trenches south of the eastern Ukrainian town of Pervomaiske.<\/p>\n Chosen stormed the trenches in vehicles and then on foot, surprising the Russian soldiers and pinching them on either side.<\/p>\n The fighting was mostly over in less than a half-hour. Everyone in Chosen survived, though some were wounded. Most of the Russian forces died, but a few fled, taking cover in nearby craters that had been left by explosions.<\/p>\n The episode took place after the trench was declared clear. But artillery fire and drone attacks remained a threat. And the battlefield was dynamic: About 10 minutes earlier, an unarmed Russian soldier had frantically darted into Chosen\u2019s trench, then hurried away before being shot and killed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Mr. O\u2019Leary showed The Times two videos that he said proved that what followed was murky, not a \u201cdirty kill.\u201d The videos, which he said were unedited, were taken from a drone and a soldier\u2019s helmet camera.<\/p>\n In the helmet camera video, sporadic small-arms fire is audible in the distance, but no hostile fire comes from the craters. The two Chosen soldiers seen on video were somewhat exposed and scanning the area, indicators that they were not under fire.<\/p>\n Mr. O\u2019Leary, who was nearby in the trench, called out to Zeus and another soldier: \u201cThree Russians in front.\u201d<\/p>\n One of those three was dead. Two others were in a nearby crater. One, dressed in olive-colored battle dress, seems to try to get the attention of Chosen troops. He puts his hands to his mouth, apparently calling out. He fires his weapon directly in the air, then puts it down and approaches the edge of the crater with his hands up, an internationally accepted sign of surrender<\/a>.<\/p>\n Beside him is another Russian soldier, who appears wounded and barely moves. He does not try to surrender.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n How much the Chosen team knew about these men is unclear, and potentially significant to the question of whether the killing that came after was justified.<\/p>\n Mr. Grosse, the medic, said he heard a Ukrainian drone team report on the radio that a Russian soldier was trying to surrender.<\/p>\n Mr. O\u2019Leary initially denied that his radio was working properly. When asked, if so, how he knew that three Russians were in or near the craters, he acknowledged that some transmissions had gotten through.<\/p>\n The surrendering Russian soldier has his hands raised for several seconds, as seen from the drone footage, when a grenade lands nearby, killing him.<\/p>\n Zeus, who threw the grenade, was not wearing a body camera. Footage from the nearby helmet camera does not show the Russian soldier, indicating that Zeus may not have seen him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n But after the explosion, Zeus indicates that he had seen him. \u201cI think I killed a guy with a grenade in his hands,\u201d he said, laughing. There is no indication in the drone video that the Russian had a grenade.<\/p>\n Mr. O\u2019Leary said that since he could not see into the crater, he had no idea if the Russian soldier or his comrades could fight back if Chosen tried to capture him.<\/p>\nChosen Company<\/h2>\n
The Grenade Episode<\/h2>\n