There is no room within the morgue at Mazyr. It is crammed with the our bodies of Russian troopers.
At one hospital on this Belarusian metropolis about 60 kilometers from the border with Ukraine, the hallways and wards are crammed with the sounds of troopers moaning from their battlefield wounds.
On the principal practice station, Russian troopers have been recorded on video ferrying stretchers — apparently holding wounded servicemen — from a army ambulance to a ready practice operated by Russia’s state railway firm.
And in Naroulya, a city nonetheless nearer to the Ukrainian border, residents report {that a} Russian discipline hospital has been arrange in a former motor depot, and wounded Russian troopers are being flown in from Ukraine, handled briefly, then shipped on to Mazyr and the regional capital, Homel.
Now in its fourth week, Russia’s battle in Ukraine continues to extract a horrific toll on Ukrainian civilians and troopers on either side. A few of the deadliest assaults and combating have occurred close to the Belarusian border near Homel; close to the Russian border in Kharkiv and Sumy within the east; and round southern port cities akin to Mariupol and Kherson.
Full and dependable casualty counts have been onerous to return by. Amongst civilians, the United Nations has recorded 780 killed and greater than 1,250 wounded — however it estimates that the precise figures are a lot greater, and Ukrainian officers say 1000’s of civilians have been killed.
The toll amongst combatants has additionally proved elusive, with consultants saying either side seeks to magnify the losses of the enemy and decrease its personal.
In Russia, arising with an correct tally is even tougher, as a result of authorities laws which have clamped down on unbiased reporting–and even made uttering the phrases “battle” and “invasion” a doubtlessly prison offense.
However within the Belarusian areas bordering Ukraine, residents and medical staff have reported a rising tide of corpses and maimed servicemen being shipped out of Ukraine after which despatched elsewhere for additional remedy — or burial.
Greater than 2,500 troopers’ corpses had already been shipped from the Homel area again to Russia by trains or by aircraft as of March 13, in line with one worker of the Homel regional medical hospital.
Like all of the individuals who spoke with RFE/RL, this particular person requested to not be named out of worry of retribution or prosecution by Belarusian or Russian safety companies.
The determine couldn’t be independently verified.
‘It Was Unbelievable How Many Corpses There Had been’
Ukraine’s army claims that greater than 14,000 Russians have been killed since Russia launched the invasion on February 24 –a quantity that’s a lot greater than most unbiased estimates. The army has not launched formal casualty figures, saying it’s a state secret, however President Volodymyr Zelenskiy stated final week that about 1,300 Ukrainian troopers had been killed.
Russia’s Protection Ministry, in the meantime, claims that greater than 2,870 Ukrainians troopers and paramilitary fighters have been killed, and round 3,700 wounded. Its solely official tally of Russian casualties got here on March 2, when the ministry stated that 498 troopers had been killed and 1,597 wounded.
Earlier this week, U.S. intelligence put the Russian army dying toll at greater than 7,000 — and stated that may be a conservative estimate.
One place to search for proof of Russian army deaths is the Homel area: Wedged into southeastern Belarus, it borders Russia to the east and Ukraine to the south. Town of Homel is Belarus’s largest after Minsk, and a serious hub for commerce and transport.
Underneath strongman chief Alyaksandr Lukashenka, Belarus has more and more change into a vassal state of Russia, in line with consultants. Lukashenka has voiced sturdy backing for Russia’s battle, allowed deployment of main Russian army items within the nation, and threatened to ship Belarusian forces into Ukraine.
Earlier than the invasion, tens of 1000’s of Russian troops have been positioned near the Ukrainian border. An unknown variety of them crossed from the Homel area and pushed south towards Kyiv, however they’ve superior slowly and suffered substantial losses.
In Mazyr, whose inhabitants is round 100,000, the town’s solely morgue was overflowing with corpses as of March 3, in line with eyewitnesses. “It was unbelievable what number of corpses there have been,” stated one Mazyr resident who ceaselessly drives by means of the town and close by areas for enterprise.
He stated he had seen many “black sacks” being loaded from army ambulances onto Russian railway vehicles. “Passengers on the Mazyr practice station have been shocked by the variety of corpses being loaded on the practice,” he stated. “After individuals began taking pictures video, the army caught them and ordered them to take away it.”
In Homel, the regional capital, a laboratory for the town’s principal hospital was refitted earlier this month, with current gear being moved out and beds and different medical gear being introduced in, residents stated.
Homel residents informed RFE/RL that wounded Russian troopers have been being introduced to a few separate medical amenities within the metropolis, together with one specializing in most cancers remedy.
A health care provider at Mazyr’s principal metropolis hospital informed RFE/RL that the power was now beneath guard by police and safety companies, and that docs had been threatened with firing in the event that they spoke about circumstances. The physician stated that each one physicians on employees, even these from extra specialised professions, had been tasked with treating wounded Russians.
“There will not be sufficient surgeons. Earlier, the corpses have been transported by ambulances and loaded on Russian trains,” the physician stated. “After somebody made a video about it and it went on the Web, the our bodies have been loaded at evening in order to not entice consideration.”
At Hospital No. 4 in Homel, officers started to discharge present sufferers on March 1 with the intention to make room for wounded Russians, in line with a number of residents whom RFE/RL spoke to. “There are such a lot of wounded Russians there — it is only a horror. Terribly disfigured. It’s inconceivable to hearken to their moans all through the entire hospital,” stated one resident who was handled within the Homel hospital.
One other Homel physician stated there was rising concern amongst metropolis residents that there could possibly be scarcity of on a regular basis drugs for the final inhabitants. “Persons are panicking, however up to now there’s [medical] assist and there’s sufficient medication. What’s going to occur subsequent continues to be unknown,” the physician stated. “It is seemingly there will probably be issues with anti-tetanus medicine.”
Tetanus is a standard ailment afflicting troopers affected by shrapnel and bullet wounds.
At Homel’s Heart for Radiation Medication, about 400 Russian troops are at the moment being handled, in line with staff. The inflow of troops has additionally prompted a minimum of one hospital worker to name for donations — of diapers, moist wipes, cleaning soap, shampoo, water, cookies, and garments to assist the troopers.
Hanna Krasulina, a spokeswoman for exiled Belarusian opposition chief Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, informed Ukrainian tv on March 2 that morgues in Mazyr have been crowded with lifeless Russian servicemen, a few of them from Chechnya.
“We should inform each the Chechens and the Russians that the Belarusian morgues within the south of Belarus are already being crammed with the corpses of their troopers,” she stated. “That is essential to allow them to know. We is not going to permit Russian propaganda to cover it.”
