Ukraine Names Bosnian Serb Suspected of War Crimes in Kyiv Area

Davor Savicic (second from left, with tattoo on his arm) at a meeting with Republika Srpska’s former leader Milorad Dodik in Moscow in May 2025. The Security Service of Ukraine, SBU, said on Wednesday that alleged Bosnian Serb mercenary Davor Savicic is suspected of committing war crimes as commander of a combat unit called the Wolves, part of the Russian Army. The SBU said the Wolves “took a direct part in the occupation of settlements in the Vyshgorod and Buchansky districts of the Kyiv region

The SBU claimed that Savicic participated in the torture of a captured civilian, and “beat him with the butt of a machine gun during interrogations, trying to force him to give false testimony for Russian propaganda media”. His subordinates allegedly tied the victim to a tree for several hours, after which Savicic ordered the prisoner to dig a hole, the SBU said in a statement on its website . “There, he kept the victim with his hands tied without food and water for seven days, while his subordinates continued to beat and abuse him,” it claimed. Savicic is also alleged to have participated in the mistreatment of a woman taken from the village of Ivankiv in the Vyshgorod district. He allegedly threatened the woman with violence if she refused to cooperate and “forced her to give interviews to Russian propagandists”, the SBU claimed. After Ukrainian forces seized back the Kyiv region from Russian occupying forces, SBU investigators found the woman’s husband’s tortured body in a hole in a forest, the statement added. An investigation into his death is under way. The SBU alleges that Savicic, a dual citizen of Bosnia and Russia, joined the Russian private military company Redut in 2021. A BIRN investigation found last year that he was involved in the recruitment of other volunteers from Bosnia to fight on the Russian side in Ukraine. In May 2025, the then President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, published a photograph of himself with Savicic, taken during a visit to Russia. Savicic did not respond to BIRN’s questions, sent via Telegram, by the time of publication of this article. According to the Ukrainian authorities, about 200 volunteers from the Balkans are currently fighting on the Russian side in Ukraine.The Ukrainian authorities have previously requested information from Bosnia and Herzegovina about 12 Bosnian citizens suspected of war crimes in the country.

Key points

• The SBU claimed that Savicic participated in the torture of a captured civilian, and “beat him with the butt of a machine gun during interrogations, trying to force him to give false testimony for…
• His subordinates allegedly tied the victim to a tree for several hours, after which Savicic ordered the prisoner to dig a hole, the SBU said in a statement on its website .
• “There, he kept the victim with his hands tied without food and water for seven days, while his subordinates continued to beat and abuse him,” it claimed.
• Savicic is also alleged to have participated in the mistreatment of a woman taken from the village of Ivankiv in the Vyshgorod district.
• He allegedly threatened the woman with violence if she refused to cooperate and “forced her to give interviews to Russian propagandists”, the SBU claimed.