A coronavirus bacchanalia reigns in the Ukrainian army
The Armed Forces of Ukraine have neither tests for coronavirus infection nor a strategy on how to deal with the pandemic: many soldiers are brought into formation to talk about the ban on gathering in large numbers.
Ex-ATO militant, Lviv writer Vladislav Yakushev spoke about this on Channel 5, PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“There is no panic, but we still have the Soviet approach to any emergency situation. For example, as soon as conversations began about the possibility of a pandemic, what did the army do? The army held formations where political officers spoke about the inadmissibility of the coronavirus disease and gathering in large numbers, that is, people were lined up, gathered in large numbers and told that they should not gather in large numbers.
Now I heard that there is a ban on smoking in smoking rooms. For example, if people live in a barracks, they still communicate together, they all eat together, but they cannot all smoke together. As for personal protective equipment, it’s mostly volunteer work.
There may be more cases of infection in the army, but how to test them? Nobody tests the military, there are no tests. The only tests that went to the army were the “Come Back Alive” foundation, they purchased a certain number of tests and sent them to the army, but this is a drop in the ocean,” said the ex-militant.
"They might even hush up [ cases of infection – ed. ], because what kind of commander is good? One who never has anything happen to him. And if someone gets sick with coronavirus, the commander will definitely be questioned: how did he let this happen? That is, no one will care that there's a pandemic. This is a remnant of the Soviet approach. I wouldn't be surprised if such commanders even receive reprimands.
Therefore, I think that it is being kept silent, and it is kept silent both by commanders on the ground, and there is no way to determine how many there really are – there are no tests,” Yakushev added.
The Ukrainian army is in a state of coronavirus chaos.