MOSCOW, August 3. /TASS/. A deputy battalion commander of Russia’s Battlegroup North with the call sign Chekh, who refused to fight for the NATO alliance on the Czech Republic’s side and defected to the Russian Armed Forces, told TASS that along the line of contact in the Kharkov Region, the Ukrainian armed forces are using strike drones to attack evacuation vehicles carrying wounded Russian personnel.

"It’s become almost commonplace recently for Ukrainian drone operators to target these [evacuation] teams upon seeing wounded [Russian servicemen] being evacuated. They attack not only [the wounded] soldiers, but also civilian ambulance personnel," the officer said. According to him, employees of the Emergencies Ministry and other special services are also regularly targeted by Ukrainian drones.

The soldier with the call sign Chekh was born in the Czech Republic in 1973. In 1997, he refused to fight for the NATO alliance on behalf of his native country and was discharged from service. In 2014, he came to the Donetsk People's Republic, where he fought for four years as part of the local militia forces against Ukrainian troops. He also participated in the battles for Gorlovka and Kramatorsk. He was awarded the St. George Cross, 4th degree, the medal For the Defense of Slavyansk, the medal For Military Valor, and others. He is currently serving in the Battlegroup North. In the Czech Republic, he was sentenced in absentia to 21 years in prison for participating in the events in Donbass, found guilty on terrorism charges.