Russian cannibal and his 'meat grinder' killer friend who minced the bodies of two women and fed them to his dogs grin as they join forces on the front line in Ukraine after Putin freed them from prison

Two of the vilest criminals released by Vladimir Putin to fight for him in Ukraine - a cannibal and a killer who dismembered his victims - joined forces on the frontline.

Evil Dmitry Malyshev, 36, had been jailed after frying the heart of one of three men he killed, which he seasoned with herbs and cooked with vegetables before eating.

Sickening rapist and killer Alexander Maslennikov, 38, used an axe and a meat grinder to cut up and mince the bodies of two women he invited to his flat for a pizza, before 'feeding human flesh to the dogs'.

The pair were among hundreds of thousands of prisoners released to fight for a special Defence Ministry unit Storm V against Ukraine, and were pictured grinning together in military fatigues after being freed from jail by the dictator.

Putin calls his fighters in Ukraine the 'new elite' of Russia. Yet their crimes shows the bestiality among his forces invading Ukraine.

Malyshev had been jailed for 25 years for 'murder of two people with particular cruelty as part of a criminal gang, banditry, theft and illegal trafficking of weapons and ammunition, preparation for the murder of police officers, robbery and eating the heart of the last victim', a Tajik immigrant.

He and Maslennikov wanted 'to preserve the traditional values of Russia' in fighting for Putin, he said, according to V1 media.

'Alexander and I were serving sentences together and we both signed contracts with the Ministry of Defence in October 2023. We serve in Storm V.'

In his confession, Malyshev - pardoned and released 17 years early by the Russian dictator - told police about his cannibalism: 'I caught up with a man there, and killed him.

'I hit him several times on the head with a nail gun and cut out his heart,' he said, adding that he took the heart home.

In a crime reconstruction he said: 'I reached in with my hand and pulled out the heart… I sliced it here, the heart's on the table…

'Just sliced it. Then I put it in a frying pan and started frying it… Then I ate it.

'Well, well, well, we're frying human flesh. Here we have a heart.'

He said he 'added the onions and the seasoning… Now I'm gonna stir it in. It's going to be ******* awesome.'

Maslennikov, a convicted rapist, was jailed for 23 years for double murder, but released from jail by Putin 18-and-a-half years early.

He killed two women sales assistants Daria Labutina, 29, and Olga Shaposhnikova, 28, after he met the pair at a karaoke bar and invited them to his flat for pizza.

He testified that he had sex with Daria - and then killed her in the bathroom.

Afterwards he matter-of-factly went to eat pizza and smoke with Olga who was initially unaware her friend had been murdered.

After she refused to have sex with him, he tied her up and gagged her - smoking and drinking next to her as she pleaded in vain for her life.

Forensic evidence showed Olga died from strangulation. Maslennikov stabbed her repeatedly after death.

He then went to buy an axe, file, spade, and plastic bin bags.

Prosecutors told the court the DNA of both women was found on a meat grinder in his kitchen.

Local reports citing law enforcement said that he fed some meat to dogs.

He chopped up the corpses with an axe and took them to a forest area where he dug a grave, breaking the spade in the process.

One of the women had been cut into 20 pieces.

Malyshev is currently in military hospital with a broken jaw and shrapnel wounds.