"Wagner mercenaries receive extra payments for killing doctors": Said Ismagilov on working on an ambulance and the need for the collapse of the empire. Photos and videos

Russian ex-prisoners from the Wagner group are hunting Ukrainian medics and volunteers. Said Ismagilov, a Muslim priest and paramedic with the Hospitallers battalion (ASAP Rescue unit), revealed the details of his work as a doctor at the frontline, under constant explosions and a sense of danger.

This became known from the Ukrainian Witness video project. The military doctor noted why an empathetic person can never save the lives of others during the war (to see photos and videos, scroll down to the end of the news).

Said Ismagilov, a driver and paramedic with the Hospitallers battalion, is one of the spiritual leaders of Ukrainian Muslims: in civilian life, he served as mufti of the Ummah Spiritual Directorate, was president of the Ukrainian Centre for Islamic Studies, and was involved in public activities.

At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Said Ismagilov came to the mosque, but it was empty. At the same time, his friends suggested that he take wounded civilians and soldiers out of Irpin.

"In March 2022, I started working on evacuations. And I continue to do it to this day. I believe that God chose me to save people's lives. When I was a mufti, I tried to save the spiritual future of people. Here, I have to work on a slightly different level, although on the spiritual level too," the man says.

Typically, ambulances are used to evacuate seriously wounded people who need help on the road. A doctor who is responsible for the wounded works with them in the cabin.

Obviously, working on an ambulance can be emotionally very difficult.

"If you can't see the wounded, then this job is not for you. Those who worry and shake things up too much soon become wounded themselves. You have to treat the wounded as your job. If I'm not empathetic, my nerves will run out in a few days. Yes, it happened that I had blood all over my car. But it happens in different ways, it all depends on the frontline and the density of hostilities.As a chaplain, I sometimes talk to the wounded. But don't think that these are spiritual conversations: the wounded are not ready for that, they would rather talk about vegetables, who they were in civilian life, how they got wounded, what hurts them," the man explains.

Said Ismagilov also spoke about why mercenaries from the Wagner PMC are hunting for ambulances.

"The fact is that they are paid extra for killing doctors in the war. It seems to be $100 or $150 for each doctor, but I don't know the exact figures. This is not to mention the fact that the shelling of the stabilisation point is constant and many doctors are killed, both men and women. For example, during my work at the stabilisation point in Bakhmut, 4 doctors were killed in the shelling, and several others were injured," says Said.

Combat medics see death every day and it becomes a common thing for them.

"Sometimes I have to carry the dead and drive them around. But before I became a paramedic, I worked as a priest for twenty years. I buried the dead and washed them. Including the bodies of close people. For me, a dead person is not the end of the world. You have to send them on their last journey with dignity, with prayer. It's the same here-the dead, the murdered. We have to send them off with dignity and continue our work," says Said.

Said is originally from Donetsk. But he is not going to return to his hometown.

"This is not the city I knew. Everyone who made Donetsk a beautiful city either left or died. And the spirit of a city is not made by walls, but by people. Instead, I plan to do everything I can to de-occupy not only Donbas, but also Crimea and the rest of the Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia," he says.

At one time, the hero of the story studied in Moscow: he graduated from the Moscow Higher Spiritual Islamic College.

"I never thought that Russians would be so organically accepting of our destruction. But starting in 2014, I no longer had such illusions. Back in 2014, the Russians were fighting against the Ukrainian army, and now it is a war against the entire Ukrainian people. But they have always laughed at us, saying that there are no Ukrainians and no Ukrainian language. Sometimes it seems to me that Russians do not understand that there are other people in the world besides them," Said reflects.

As reported by OBOZREVATEL:

- the day before, Cherevaty said that during the fighting near Bakhmut, Ukrainian defenders eliminated 80 kafirs. Another 99 were wounded and one was taken prisoner;

- Wagner PMC mercenaries continue to withdraw from Bakhmut to recover and regroup in the rear, as Russian offensive operations in and around the city are declining. At the same time, the Russian Federation is redeploying DPR forces to the area and reinforcing its flanks with regular army units.

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