Outbreaks of infectious diseases are observed in the training centers of the Russian military in the Sverdlovsk region, but doctors cannot treat them due to a lack of equipment and medicines. This is likely the result of overcrowding and unsanitary conditions in the training area, says independent researcher Chris Owen.

The independent Russian news agency SOTA reports that there has been an outbreak of an unknown respiratory disease (possibly COVID) among men stationed at the Yelansky training ground, 129 km east of Yekaterinburg.

“Local doctors are not provided with the minimum necessary equipment, and patients are not provided with medicines. Yes, doctors are asking through volunteers to buy them 3 professional stethoscopes [un tip de stetoscop]. Volunteers also collect medicines from a wide list, which includes not only common cold remedies, such as nose drops and throat lozenges, but also analgin, amoxicillin, drotaverin (NO-ShPA), lidocaine, etc. The authorities do not recognize and do not comment on the illnesses of the mobilized people,” SOTA writes.

SOTA notes that the mobilized live in extremely crowded conditions, as if in some kind of gym, which probably contributed to the spread of the disease.

Thus, Russian soldiers get sick even before they get to the front, where in recent days the fighting on the front line has stopped due to bad weather.

Ukrainians and Russians in hot spots in eastern and southern Ukraine, including Svatovo, Bakhmut and Vugledar, say the operations of the two armies have been “stalled” due to heavy rain and mud on the battlefield.

Images of Ukrainian soldiers standing in water- and mud-filled trenches in Bakhmut, strikingly similar to World War I scenes, have been shared on social media.