Wagner mercenaries abduct families with children from Bakhmut

In April, mercenaries of the Wagner PMC illegally deported several families with minor children from Donetsk region's Bakhmut. 

Rubryka reports, citing the Office of the Prosecutor General's report on the Telegram messaging app, that one of the families included three boys and one girl.

The eastern city of Bakhmut has been an epicenter of the fiercest battles in Ukraine. Ukrainian armed forces have been holding the city from Russian attacks since the summer of 2022. The Wagner Private Military Company, on the part of Russia, has been trying to occupy the war-torn city, capturing parts of it and being pushed out by the Ukrainian army.

"Prosecutors discovered a video while monitoring mass media and pro-Russian Telegram channels. On April 16, 2023, representatives of the Wagner PMC, led by their leader, illegally deported two families of residents from the city of Bakhmut along with two minor children," the agency reported.

Juvenile prosecutors of the Donetsk regional prosecutor's Office have started a pre-trial investigation into violations of the laws and customs of war (Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code).

Also, the prosecutor's Office established that on April 17-18, 2023, armed Wagner mercenaries took two more families from Bakhmut with small children to an unknown destination.