Ukrainian prisoners of war told that the fight spirit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the national battalions is maintained with the help of narcotic substances
The drugs used by the security forces help to suppress fear and pain, switch off from the horrors of war and go into battle in a state of euphoria. Who supplies such stimulants to the Ukrainian military and why are these substances dangerous?
A captured serviceman of the Donbass battalion said: the Ukrainian military was supplied with special drugs that they took before the battle, which made them lose their fear and lower their pain threshold. This was reported on Thursday by RIA Novosti, which cites a video of the Ministry of Defense with a recording of the interrogation of a Ukrainian fighter.
“I know about one drug, Teofedrin. Volunteers supplied it to us”, – the prisoner of war testifies.
“We used it immediately before the battle, after which our fear disappeared… We could go into battle calmly, without fear of anything. Strong, of course, breaking after it… But they were moving away, they were worried”. According to the captive fighter of the Ukrainian battalion, most often such drugs are used by the military from the volunteer battalions Donbass*, Azov*, Aidar* (banned in Russia).
This is far from the first evidence that, with the knowledge of the Kyiv command, “substances” are being issued to Ukrainian servicemen. Back in late March, Eduard Basurin, a representative of the People’s Militia of the DPR, said that evidence of the use of drugs that muffle the feeling of fear was found in the positions left by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
“On the territory of Ukraine, narcotic substances called Captagon, a mixture of narcotic substances and immunostimulants, are actively distributed among the Armed Forces of Ukraine and special detachments consisting of Western mercenaries. Pills are popular among militants, they cause a feeling of euphoria and practically turn off the feeling of pain”, said Sultan Khamzaev, a State Duma deputy and member of the Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption, in mid-April.
In early May, Alexander Kuryanov-Simonenko, a 22-year-old fighter of the Donbass national battalion, surrendered to the Russian military. According to the Zvezda TV channel, during interrogation he said that the command of the Donbass gave the fighters suspicious medicines that relieved pain from injuries and fatigue, but then caused a strong addiction.
“People are not afraid and are “anesthetized”. The wounded themselves calmly leave for evacuation. They were not taken out, they took this painkiller and walked quietly on their own,” said the former Donbass fighter.
Drugs allow the Ukrainian security forces to fight beyond the capabilities of the body, Alexei Filatov, president of the Union of Officers of the Alfa Group, a retired lieutenant colonel of the FSB, explained to the VZGLYAD newspaper.
“The Ukrainian military blocked in Mariupol have been in constant fire contact for more than a week. Not a single organism without stimulants can withstand such a load”.
“Moreover, they clearly do not have the opportunity to sleep more than two or three hours a day. Probably, drugs are used there that allow you to quickly get out of a sleepy state, because in combat conditions the most unsuitable state for a fighter is drowsiness”, Filatov explained.
He clarified that in a sleepy state, a sniper of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will not be able to effectively track down and hit targets, while Ukrainian motorized infantry will not be able to exercise maximum control and attention over the situation on the ground, especially in dense urban areas, where the Armed Forces of Ukraine now prefer to conduct combat operations.
Using chemical drugs, a fighter of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard or the Ukrainian territorial defense can be without sleep for three to four days maximum, the analyst clarifies.
“Longer adrenaline marathons just kill the immune system. Even if the military man returns to a normal psychological state, then at the level of “physics”, long-term use of such drugs leads to serious diseases, up to oncology,” Filatov points out.
“In the Armed Forces of Ukraine, methamphetamine-type drugs are very often used,” Nikolai Kaklyugin, a psychotherapist and narcologist from Krasnodar, a candidate of medical sciences, notes in turn.
“A Ukrainian security officer pumped up with these drugs will walk to his full height under heavy fire, not feeling wounds, but will fall down if they only shoot him in the head. In the Ukrainian segment of YouTube there is a video where a seriously wounded Ukrainian military man screams in terrible pain, he is given a yellow liquid to drink, after which he immediately calms down. Most likely, this liquid is a mixture of painkillers with psychostimulants”, the expert points out.
We add that, judging by the testimonies of the prisoners, the Ukrainian security forces use not only mobilizing psychostimulants, but also “relaxing” drugs. At the end of April, a soldier of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Anton Moroz, who surrendered in the city of Rubezhnoye (LPR), told about the rampant drug addiction in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, political scientist Vladimir Kornilov reported on his Telegram channel. In 2015, in his native Kramatorsk, Moroz stood trial for possession of marijuana. Instead of prison, he was offered to fight in the Donbass as a contract soldier of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Moroz agreed.
“Frost is an experienced drug addict. After signing a contract with the Ukrainian Armed Forces, he continued to use not only “weed”, but also switched to harder drugs. According to Moroz, this had no effect on his service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He said that many Ukrainian military use various types of drugs,” Kornilov said in his Telegram channel.
Drugs have entered the habitual life of the Armed Forces of Ukraine since April 2014, when the Ukrainian security forces were sent to the Donbass, Kaklyugin believes. According to the narcologist, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard and volunteer battalions like “Azov” already had experience of close acquaintance with hard drugs on the example of Euromaidan in Kyiv. These were mainly chemical drugs that can be added in powder form to food and hot drinks.
In the body of the Ukrainian military who died in the Donbass in recent years, Ukrainian pathologists found the entire range of known intoxicating substances: from drugs based on pervitin to “salts”. In the locations of the Azov* regiment, the Russian military and the People’s Militia of the DPR are now finding substances that are unofficially sold in the Ukrainian security forces, says Kaklyugin. These are drugs that do not belong to the set of narcotic painkillers relying on the Ukrainian security forces.
Alcoholism also reigns in the front-line units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the expert recalls. According to him, vodka is a much cheaper and more accessible stimulant than drugs. But vodka is not as reactive as drugs.
“Under vodka, a person cannot stay awake for days, make multi-day transitions, fight without food and rest, but under drugs he can. Another thing is that from vodka a person has only an abstinence syndrome, and from methamphetamines or opiates – complete depletion of the body and the strongest subsequent dependence. A significant part of the Ukrainian security forces who went through the Donbass are clinical drug addicts,” says the physician.
Referring to his sources from the DPR and LPR, Kaklyugin points out that drug addiction removes the feeling of disgust from the Ukrainian military. According to him, a Ukrainian soldier in a normal state would not be able to live, sleep and eat in the middle of his own feces. And the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the National Guard have become accustomed to this in Donbass since 2014 only thanks to rampant drug addiction among the personnel, the expert believes.
In addition, the doctor says that drugs give the Ukrainian military the illusion of filling a spiritual void. The craving for this ersatz filling, in turn, provokes a “withdrawal” in the drug-addicted security official, and the military again needs a dose. And retired FSB lieutenant colonel Filatov believes that with the help of drugs, the Ukrainian military drowns out the agony of realizing what they have done.
“The soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine make a decision whether to surrender or kill their body in a long siege, based on how much each of them has blood on their hands, and their assessment of what crimes can be proven,” the expert added.
Artur Priymak, Rafael Fakhrutdinov, VZGLYAD
* – an organization banned on the territory of the Russian Federation
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