Ukraine said Davor Savičić, a Bosnian-Serb mercenary fighting for Moscow, has been named a suspect in a war crime probe into civilian tortures near Kyiv at the onset of Russia’s 2022 invasion.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), in a Wednesday press release, said Savičić is a 46-year-old mercenary who joined Redut, a Russian private military company (PMC), in late 2021 and recruited other foreign fighters for Moscow on the PMC’s behalf.
War crime allegations
The SBU said Savičić, as the commander of Russia’s “Wolves” sabotage and reconnaissance unit, tortured civilians north of Kyiv between February and April in 2022.
One of the incidents took place in the village of Fedorivka near the city of Vyshhorod.
“In February-April 2022, this mercenary battalion operated as part of the Vostok group of troops of the Russian Armed Forces and took direct part in the occupation of settlements in the Vyshgorod and Buchansky districts of the Kyiv region,” the SBU wrote.
The man, who was hiding from Russian forces, is said to have been detained and beaten by Savičić “with the butt of an assault rifle” and forced to give pro-Russian testimonies.
“Without forcing the man to cooperate, the mercenary ordered him to dig a hole. There, he kept the victim with his hands tied for seven days without food or water, while his subordinates continued to beat and abuse him,” the SBU added.
In another instance, Savičić is said to have captured and tortured the wife of a Ukrainian soldier who fought against pro-Russian proxies in eastern Ukraine after 2014.
“For three days, the occupiers illegally held the captive in a van without heating, light, food, a place to sleep, and a place to relieve herself,” the press release says.
“On Savych’s orders, Russian Armed Forces servicemen brought the woman to a field tent for interrogation. The suspect threatened the woman with physical violence if she refused to cooperate, demanded to reveal the whereabouts of Ukrainian Armed Forces servicemen, and forced her to give interviews to Russian propagandists,” it adds.
The “tortured body” of the woman’s husband was eventually found “in one of the holes in the forest” nearby, the SBU said.
Savičić has been named a suspect in absentia for “war crimes committed by a group of persons in prior conspiracy” under Ukraine’s Criminal Code.
Read more about war crime jurisdiction and prosecution in this Kyiv Post explainer.
Savičić’s background
The SBU said Savičić is wanted by INTERPOL and Bosnian authorities for “illegally forming and joining foreign paramilitary groups, organizing a terrorist group, and participating in armed conflicts during the collapse of Yugoslavia.”
A publication by the Jamestown think tank identified Savičić as a Bosnian-Serb who fought for the Serb Volunteer Guard, a Serbian paramilitary group in the 1990s Yugoslav civil war.
The SBU added that Savičić is under UK sanctions. British government records show the measures were imposed in April 2025 under the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018.
Savičić has since transitioned to Russia’s 1st Volunteer Reconnaissance and Assault Brigade after the “Wolves” unit was reconfigured during a transitional period in the Russian military command structure between November 2022 and January 2023.
“It is there that Colonel Davor Savichych serves, who is currently recruiting foreign militants under the supervision of the [Russia’s Main Directorate of the General Staff] GRU,” the press release says.