Russian news sites as well as sites from the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics featured stories this week claiming that Americans have begun testing coronavirus drugs and vaccines on Ukrainian soldiers and the tests have already led to casualties. Six American virologists arrived in Ukraine to oversee the tests of these innovative drugs, claimed Rusvesna.
The head of Ukraine’s Armed Forces Medical Service Corps media relations Oleksiy Mazepa refuted these claims in a conversation with StopFake and pointed out that in recent months no foreign medical specialists had visited Ukraine’s military.
Rusvesna claims that Kharkiv Military Hospital chief surgeon Serhiy Shypilov, who is allegedly participating in the trials as an observer, told them that on June 29 fifteen candidates sick with Covid-19 were selected for the trials, including ten military personnel who had moderate and severe coronavirus symptoms. The trials are allegedly conducted in the Kharkiv Regional Radiation Protection Dispensary.
According to Mazepa, the entire story is completely made up. Dr. Shypilov is not involved in treating patients suffering from Covid-19 and all soldiers who are ill with the coronavirus are treated exclusively in military hospitals and not in any Kharkiv dispensary.
According to Ukraine’s military, 140 soldiers are currently ill with coronavirus. Over the course of the pandemic 524 have fully recovered and five have died from the virus. Mazepa emphasized that Ukraine’s armed forces are being completely open and transparent about coronavirus casualties.
