During fighting near Vovchansk in Kharkiv Oblast, soldiers from Ukraine's 120th Separate Brigade of the Territorial Defense Forces have captured a foreign mercenary.
He turned out to be 25-year-old Iraqi citizen Alimari Kamal Nabil Khalaf, who spoke of blackmail, beatings, and inhumane conditions within the Russian army.
Ukrainian soldiers are usually suspicious when hearing information like that, as such stories are common among captured Russian soldiers.
“20 years in prison or the front line”: How the Iraqi citizen was lured into fighting
Alimari Kamal Nabil Khalaf, a native of Kirkuk, served in the 82nd Motorized Rifle Regiment of Russia’s 69th Motorized Rifle Division.
He had arrived in Russia on a tourist visa and was working in a restaurant when police detained him for lacking a work permit.
“He was given a choice: 20 years in prison or a contract with the Russian Defense Ministry,” Ukraine's brigade reported.
The prisoner admitted he agreed to the deal to avoid prison but later “realized it was hell.”
“We were beaten and humiliated”: Life of foreigners in the Russian army
“I chose the contract, but then I understood it was hell. We were beaten, humiliated, treated like animals,” said Alimari.
According to him, during “training,” he was surrounded by other foreigners from Kenya and Ghana, who were also beaten and forced to perform dangerous missions without any preparation.
He confessed that Russia had “destroyed his life” and thanked Ukrainian soldiers for their humane treatment.
“I thank the Ukrainian soldiers for sparing my life and treating me like a human being," added Alimari.
The cynicism of “contracts”: Migrants sent to die
The 120th Brigade emphasized that this is the true face of Russian “contracts” with their blackmail, coercion, and death.
“Behind the loud talk of ‘foreign volunteers’ lies the cynical exploitation of migrants, sent to die, and then erased as if they never existed,” the Ukrainian soldiers concluded.
