Oorlog in Oekraпne #731

In Russian prisons, they said they were deprived of effective treatments for their H.I.V. On the battlefield in Ukraine, they were offered hope, with the promise of anti-viral medications if they agreed to fight.

It was a recruiting pitch that worked for many Russian prisoners.

About 20 percent of recruits in Russian prisoner units are H.I.V. positive, Ukrainian authorities estimate based on infection rates in captured soldiers. Serving on the front lines seemed less risky than staying in prison, the detainees said in interviews with The New York Times.

“Conditions were very harsh” in Russian prison, said Timur, 37, an H.I.V.-positive Russian soldier interviewed at a detention site in the city of Dnipro in central Ukraine, and identified only by a first name, worried that he would face retaliation if he returned to Russia in a prisoner swap.

After he was sentenced to 10 years for drug dealing, the doctors in the Russian prison changed the anti-viral medication he had been taking to control H.I.V. to types he feared were not effective, Timur said.

He said he did not think he could survive a decade in Russian prison with H.I.V. In December, he agreed to serve six months in the Wagner mercenary group in exchange for a pardon and supplies of anti-viral medications.

“I understood I would have a quick death or a slow death,” he said of choosing between poor H.I.V. treatment in prison and participating in assaults in Russia’s war in Ukraine. “I chose a quick death.”

Timur had no military experience and was provided two weeks of training before deployment to the front, he said. He was issued a Kalashnikov rifle, 120 bullets, an armored vest and a helmet for the assault. Before sending the soldiers forward, he said, commanders “repeated many times, ‘if you try to leave this field, we will shoot you.’”

Soldiers in his platoon, he said, were sent on a risky assault, waves of soldiers with little chance of survival sent into battle on the outskirts of the eastern city of Bakhmut. Most were killed on their first day of combat. Timur was captured.

Units of former prisoners have made up the bulk of forces in Russia’s attack on Bakhmut, one of the bloodiest and longest-running battles in the war. Beginning on a wide scale last summer, inmates were promised pardons for going into combat.

Those with H.I.V. or hepatitis C were forced to identify their status in a very public manner.

When captured by Ukrainian soldiers, many wore red or white rubber wristbands, or both, signifying they had either disease, both widespread in the Russian prison system. They were made to wear the wristbands ostensibly as a warning to other soldiers in case they were wounded, although they would not necessarily be infectious if properly medicated.

Anti-viral medication can indefinitely treat H.I.V. and suppress the virus to the point where an individual is not infectious. Ukraine allows those who are H.I.V. positive to serve in combat roles with approval from their commanders. The United States does not allow people who are H.I.V. positive to enlist, but lets soldiers who become infected continue to serve while receiving treatment.

“If a person is in treatment, and continues treatment, the virus can be undetectable and he can serve, he can work and is not dangerous to those around him,” said Dr. Iryna Dizha, a medical adviser to 100 Percent Life, an H.I.V. advocacy group in Ukraine.

The wristbands pose a risk to those wearing them. They are intended to protect other soldiers from infection if the wearer suffers a bloody battlefield wound, the prisoners of war said. Reluctance of fellow soldiers or medics to be exposed to the blood, however, could delay first aid.

Another H.I.V.-positive prisoner of war who fought in the Wagner group, Yevgeny, said that he had suffered a gunshot wound a month before his capture by Ukrainian forces, according to a videotaped interrogation by Ukraine’s domestic intelligence agency that was reviewed by The Times. He had received timely medical help despite wearing a red bracelet, he said, but was treated in a hospital where he felt doctors were careless about infecting other patients.

“There were no conditions for the H.I.V. infected,” he said. “We were all treated together, the healthy and the unhealthy.”

And in the chaos of battle the bracelets serve little purpose, said Vadim, 31, who was convicted of robbery and served in Wagner before being captured in a bunker.

After Ukrainian soldiers tossed several hand grenades into the bunker, the Russian soldiers, including two who were H.I.V. positive, hunkered in a corner. Three of 10 soldiers in the bunker were killed and most others wounded, Vadim said. He emerged splattered with blood. “I was always afraid of this disease,” he said in an interview at a Ukrainian detention site. After the exposure, he tested negative.

Since the summer, about 50,000 prisoners have signed up to fight in Ukraine, roughly 10 percent of the incarcerated population, according to Russia Behind Bars, a nongovernmental group monitoring Russian prisons.

Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said in a statement last fall that some captured soldiers had H.I.V. and hepatitis C. The domestic intelligence agency has made available videos of interrogations with Wagner prisoners of war describing H.I.V. infection and showing red bracelets. The Ukrainian authorities provide anti-viral medicine to H.I.V.-positive prisoners of war.

H.I.V., hepatitis C and tuberculosis, including drug-resistant strains, are prevalent in Russian prisons and penal colonies. About 10 percent of Russia’s incarcerated population is H.I.V.-positive, said Olga Romanova, the director of Russia Behind Bars. About a third of the total inmate population has at least one of those three infections, she said.

In interviews, H.I.V.-positive prisoners of war said they were asked only to do push-ups before a recruiter to prove their fitness to serve.

Ruslan, 42, had served one year of an 11-year sentence for drug dealing when he joined Wagner in December. The medications he received in a penal colony were not suppressing the virus, he said, and he feared for his life.

Last year, he had been bedridden for weeks with pneumonia. Ruslan said that after joining Wagner he had a mild bout of pneumonia at a training camp in January. A month later, he was sent on a human wave assault in Bakhmut and was captured.

Ruslan said he welcomed Wagner’s policy of accepting H.I.V.-positive inmates. He said he thought he would die in any case from his illness in prison and accepted the frontline for a chance at freedom and treatment.

“If you have a long sentence,” he said, “it gives you a chance to begin life again.”

over_hedge	donderdag 20 april 2023 @ 10:25
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Lospedrosa	donderdag 20 april 2023 @ 10:38
	Die andere “duider” zie je hier nooit meer langskomen. Dat vind ik helemaal een mafkees. twitter Pure anti westerse-anti EU propoganda.
Straatcommando.	donderdag 20 april 2023 @ 10:41
	quote: Op donderdag 20 april 2023 10:38 schreef Lospedrosa het volgende: Die andere “duider” zie je hier nooit meer langskomen. Dat vind ik helemaal een mafkees. [ twitter ] Pure anti westerse-anti EU propoganda. Omdat die man itt van Wijk een regelrechte useful idiot is. Blaat alle kenmerkende propaganda na.
Spablauw214	donderdag 20 april 2023 @ 10:46
	quote: Op donderdag 20 april 2023 10:41 schreef Straatcommando. het volgende: [..] Omdat die man itt van Wijk een regelrechte useful idiot is. Blaat alle kenmerkende propaganda na. Ben het er wel mee eens dat je die bovenlaag nog veel verder de duimschroeven zou moeten aandraaien dan nu het geval is.
Lospedrosa	donderdag 20 april 2023 @ 10:57
	quote: Op donderdag 20 april 2023 10:46 schreef Spablauw214 het volgende: [..] Ben het er wel mee eens dat je die bovenlaag nog veel verder de duimschroeven zou moeten aandraaien dan nu het geval is. Maar hij pakt hier een specifiek voorbeeld, waarbij een iemand de boel waarschijnlijk op papier goed geregeld heeft (ander paspoort en bank en bedrijf, getrouwd met een Europeaan) En dan zegt dat “Het Westen” dus bloedgeld toestaat. Pure opruiing
ExTec	donderdag 20 april 2023 @ 11:10
	quote: Op donderdag 20 april 2023 10:57 schreef Lospedrosa het volgende: En dan zegt dat “Het Westen” dus bloedgeld toestaat. Pure opruiing Uh huh. Want die tonnen die de dame in kwestie spendeert aan bv juwelen heeft ze zelf eerlijk verdient met haar krantenwijk, ofzo. En blijkbaar ontgaat het je dat die yusibov niet zelf daarmee komt, maar slecht een andere post re-tweet.
Straatcommando.	donderdag 20 april 2023 @ 11:15
	Ik ken die hele vrouw niet maar als ze niet in de cirkel van Poetin zit heeft het ook weinig zin om die kaal te plukken of dwars te zitten
ExTec	donderdag 20 april 2023 @ 11:16
	quote: Op donderdag 20 april 2023 11:15 schreef Straatcommando. het volgende: Ik ken die hele vrouw niet maar als ze niet in de cirkel van Poetin zit heeft het ook weinig zin om die kaal te plukken of dwars te zitten De ex-vrouw van onderminister van defensie. En zelf in rus valt er op te zoeken wat die mensen officieel verdienen. En dan kom je rap tot de conclusie dat die mensen nogal erg boven hun stand leven.
Starhopper	donderdag 20 april 2023 @ 11:17
	quote: Op donderdag 20 april 2023 11:15 schreef Straatcommando. het volgende: Ik ken die hele vrouw niet maar als ze niet in de cirkel van Poetin zit heeft het ook weinig zin om die kaal te plukken of dwars te zitten Alle oligarchen hebben banden met het Kremlin.
ExTec	donderdag 20 april 2023 @ 11:17
	quote: Op donderdag 20 april 2023 11:17 schreef Starhopper het volgende: [..] Alle oligarchen hebben banden met het Kremlin. Per definitie, idd.
Spablauw214	donderdag 20 april 2023 @ 11:20
	Het uitkleden en kaalplukken van de elite is wel de kortste route om het regime aan het wankelen te brengen.
slashdotter3	donderdag 20 april 2023 @ 11:24
	Battle for Hostomel Airport - Animated Analysis
3rr0r	donderdag 20 april 2023 @ 12:06
	quote: De Oekraпense fotograaf Evgeniy Maloletka heeft de World Press Photo gewonnen, de meest prestigieuze fotoprijs. Maloletka was een van de laatste journalisten van westerse media in de Oekraпense stad Marioepol toen hij er op 9 maart vorig jaar de winnende foto maakte. https://nos.nl/nieuwsuur/(...)de-foto-van-het-jaar
Starhopper	donderdag 20 april 2023 @ 12:14
	twitter
stavromulabeta	donderdag 20 april 2023 @ 12:21
	quote: Op donderdag 20 april 2023 11:15 schreef Straatcommando. het volgende: Ik ken die hele vrouw niet maar als ze niet in de cirkel van Poetin zit heeft het ook weinig zin om die kaal te plukken of dwars te zitten Niet alleen geen zin maar ook totaal onrechtvaardig.
3rr0r	donderdag 20 april 2023 @ 12:25
	Visnet ook goed genoeg twitter
inslagenreuring	donderdag 20 april 2023 @ 12:57
	quote: Op donderdag 20 april 2023 10:38 schreef Lospedrosa het volgende: Die andere “duider” zie je hier nooit meer langskomen. Dat vind ik helemaal een mafkees. [ twitter ] Pure anti westerse-anti EU propoganda. Die Isa is dan ook een enorme debiel die blij mag zijn dat hij in 'het westen' terecht is gekomen.
3rr0r	donderdag 20 april 2023 @ 13:22
	quote: Russia reiterated on Thursday that preventing Kyiv from joining NATO is one of its key goals, as NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg visits Ukraine on his first trip to the country since Moscow launched its invasion in February 2022. Ukraine's accession to the alliance would “pose a serious and significant danger to our country, to the security of our country,” said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov. CNN
oheng	donderdag 20 april 2023 @ 13:23
	Vrouw verraadt haar man en krijgt tickets voor dat бndere circus.
3rr0r	donderdag 20 april 2023 @ 13:23
	quote: Moscow unleashed 30 attacks in the town of Vulhedar in eastern Ukraine, as the conflict in the Donetsk region ramps up amid a grinding battle for control.