Russia's war against Ukraine is probably the world's worst-kept secret by now. Nevertheless, each piece of evidence pointing at the country's involvement in military actions that they deny taking part in becomes a sensation. This time, the beans were spilled by healthcare workers demanding to be paid the money they were promised - including combat bonuses for the war in Donbas.
"We got ripped off with Ukraine, and with coronavirus we were promised to be paid, and got ripped off again," a rally participant said. "Ukraine is a separate story. We were promised to be paid our 'combat' money. The 'combat' money is gone! We took out the wounded from Ukrainian territory under shelling. Yes, the ambulances, the paramedics, ..., the doctors sewing them back together," another said. "The money was transferred to the city budget but then disappeared. We wanted to get to the bottom of it, but it was covered up," a healthcare worker said.The rally participants from Gukovo said that healthcare workers from the neighboring Novoshatkhtinsk, Belaya Koletva, and Zverevo had "combat missions" as well, but they were paid, while in Gukovo the money was gone.
"And we spent a month evacuating the wounded! This [city] is like a damned place. Total impunity!" the participant exclaimed.The medics claimed they evacuated participants on both sides of the conflict. One of the healthcare workers claimed that 19 Ukrainian servicemen were brought in during her shift. "But we were forbidden from speaking about it," another participant said. It was unclear from the video whether they helped Russian military personnel or only militants of the puppet "Luhansk and Donetsk people's republics" on the one side, and the Ukrainian military from the other side. Gukovo is located near the border of what is now the proxy Russian "Luhansk People's Republic." In 2014, a Russian military invasion was essential to wrestling this region out of Ukraine's control. The deployment of Russian forces in Ukraine began in July 2014. Then, Ukrainian troops were advancing, taking control of the Ukrainian-Russian border zone in the Donbas, to block the flow of weapons and men that were being brought to the separatists. That explains the artillery attacks from Russia. After examining what went on in the border region, the international investigative team Bellingcat concluded that during the summer of 2014 the Russian Armed Forces launched at least 149 artillery strikes, releasing thousands of shells. Bellingcat was also able to identify around 130 likely artillery positions.
