Brutal footage shows Wagner troops beating a commander with shovels then leaving him badly wounded

Russian fighters have been filmed dragging their wounded commander away from the frontline before beating him with shovels.

The men, who were identified as Wagner mercenary group soldiers, were filmed along the battlefield in Bakhmut in the Donbas region where fierce fighting continues to rage.

A Ukrainian military drone captured the bizarre and brutal incident earlier this week before it was released on Ukrainian social media channels.

The men rain down successive blows on their wounded commander as shovels are filmed thrusting down onto him behind a barn. 

The extraordinary footage of the dissenting soldiers contributes to the ongoing reports of diminished morale among Russia’s troops and mercenary units.

Each man appears to be clinging on to one of the commander’s arms or legs as they carefully pull him across the war-torn area

In the drone footage, four Wagner troops carry their commander through a landscape of demolished buildings away from the battlefield in Bakhmut.

The Wagner group is a paramilitary organisation first deployed in the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and now a private extension of the Russian army. They have close personal ties to Vladimir Putin with his crony Yevgeny Prigozhin heading the barbaric group.

Each man appears to be clinging on to one of the commander’s arms or legs as they carefully pull him across the war-torn area.

The men then drop him some metres away at a barn door shortly before they proceed to beat him.

A second clip then shows the Wagner forces partially hidden between two structures, with the wounded commander assumed to be on the ground.

Arms wielding shovels can be seen jolting into the air before they strike down to the ground behind the barn’s wall.

The extraordinary Ukrainian drone footage shows successive blows to the commander as Wagner troops brutally rain their shovels down onto him. His fait is unknown.

The new footage aligns with reports of low morale and dissent among Russian troops and mercenary groups that have been constant throughout the war, but appears to have increased in recent months.

They Wagner group have close personal ties to Vladimir Putin (left) with his crony Yevgeny Prigozhin (right) heading the barbaric group.

The men then drop the commander some metres away at a barn door shortly before they proceed to beat him

A second clip then shows the Wagner forces partially hidden between two structures, with the wounded commander assumed to be on the ground

Arms wielding shovels can be seen jolting into the air before they strike down to the ground behind the barn’s wall

Wagner troops are reportedly threatened with execution if they do not proceed or make substantial advances along frontline.

Ukrainian troops have reported how their corpses litter the battleground after being mown down in numbers. 

As both Kyiv and Moscow continue to escalate their campaigns, brutal fighting has focused for months around Bakhmut near the Donbas region.

The city had a pre-war population of around 75,000 but has now been largely flattened into a battleground.

Putin’s troops and mercenaries have made progress towards encircling the region from both the north and south, but Kyiv says its garrison continues to hold fast.