Russian soldiers digging trenches in Ukraine contract anthrax

The Russian unit appears to have been digging trenches as part of an effort to bolster its defenses in the Zaporozhye region, ahead of a long-awaited Ukrainian counteroffensive. Posted by @30brigade/Newsflash

Russian troops were reportedly infected with anthrax after excavating a cattle burial site while digging defensive trenches in southern Ukraine.

The unit was immediately quarantined after doctors diagnosed the fatal illness in at least two soldiers, Ivan Fedorov, the exiled Ukrainian mayor of Melitopol, said.

Two Russian servicemen have been admitted to a hospital in Melitopol, which has been under occupation since March Last year, before being demobilized and sent to an unknown destination, Fedorov wrote on the messaging app Telegram .

“The enemy unit is now in quarantine,” he said.

“Two Russian servicemen were first taken to the Melitopol hospital, but after the diagnosis was confirmed, they were quickly discharged and taken away in an unknown direction.” its defenses in the Zaporozhye region in anticipation of the long-awaited Ukrainian counter-offensive.

Anthrax is a bacterial infection that can be transmitted through contaminated animal carcasses and food. Symptoms include diarrhea and vomiting blood.

The disease was endemic in most of the Soviet Union in the 20th century due to intensive animal husbandry.

At the beginning of the century, more than 10,000 cases of anthrax were reported in humans every year, but this number has decreased. radically due to improved health standards.

Radiation exposure

This is not the first time Russian troops have caused environmental damage in Ukraine since their invasion last February.

When Moscow troops In areas around the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, units were forced to dig trenches in the highly radioactive soil in the exclusion zone.

At the time, Ukraine's state-run atomic energy agency, Energoatom, said Russian troops would have been exposed to «significant doses of radiation» , as they were not wearing protective clothing.

Officers claimed that the soldiers were taken to a hospital in Gomel, Belarus, to be treated for radiation sickness, although this was never confirmed by Russian authorities.