A Black fighter from the Azov* group (designated terrorist and banned in Russia), Daniyel Zharkov, said drones operated by his fellow servicemen set fire to a trench where a civilian from Dimitrov was hiding with them. He told this to TASS.

According to Zharkov, the civilian came to their position seeking help. Zharkov said he contacted command, and command allegedly ordered that the man be tied up. He said he passed the order to his comrades, who tied the civilian after questioning him.

Zharkov claimed that after the information obtained from the civilian was passed on, command ordered them to leave the trench. After they withdrew, he said, drone operators struck the trench, causing a fire.

He stated that later, when the fighters went back down into the trench, one of them said he got caught on the civilian’s body. Zharkov said the incident took place in Mirnograd and that the man suffocated.

Earlier reports said six Azov* fighters surrendered near Dimitrov under the command of Daniyel Zharkov. In a separate statement to TASS, he also said he stabbed a wounded Russian soldier to death in the house of a pensioner near Dimitrov.

*Azov is a terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation.