Medics are ‘sex slaves’ for Putin’s warlords

From Russian

RUSSIAN female combat medics have told how they are being forced to serve as “field wives” and have sex with commanders in Ukraine.

Any refusing are either sent to the front lines or shot by their commanders, according to harrowing accounts on social media.

An increasing number are being deployed to Ukraine. Many are based in “field hospitals” – usually repurposed civilian clinics in eastern Ukraine. They provide trauma and medical care to Russian soldiers injured by bombardments or evacuated from the front.

Others accompany Russian armoured and artillery units.

More than 20 women have risked reprisals to write about their plight as “enforced field wives” on the Telegram social media platform.

Accepting the sexual demands of a senior officer brings with it privileges, such as extra food and better accommodation. But those who dare to complain risk injury and potential death, when they are sent to within six miles of Ukrainian positions – well within killer drone range.

It is claimed that in at least three cases drunken officers pulled out guns and shot women refusing their demands. One is said to have died and two survived with “life-changing” injuries.

Katia, a 27-year-old medic from Moscow, said she had to fend off her commander’s attentions after joining a logistics unit near Donetsk last year. She added: “My commander was a pig. He kept fondling me and trying to get me into his room. It was disgusting.

“One evening he trapped me in his office and started pulling at my clothes. He was going to rape me.

“The following day I was ordered to Bakhmut. It was terrifying. I was with the 76th Guards and on the second day I was injured in a Ukrainian drone attack.”

She claimed: “One of my friends was killed because she refused sex, and two others were seriously injured by their commanders and will never be the same again.”

Another medic, Margarita, has been receiving psychiatric treatment in Belgorod following her service in Ukraine.

She said there were seven other women in her medical unit, aged between 23 and 38, and all faced pressure to become “field wives”.

She said: “When we arrived, no one knew what was going on there. And by the time we figured it out, it was too late. I saw with my own eyes how one officer shot and seriously injured a female soldier.”

The woman is now permanently disabled, she said.

Margarita added: “He tried to make it look like the Ukrainians had done it, injuring his own arm and saying he had been protecting her.”

‘Friend killed as she refused’