There were no oxygen cylinders: operation "Pipe" was a feat at the cost of one's own health

In the field hospital of the special forces "Akhmat" in the Kursk region, the special correspondent Pravda.Daria Aslamova talked with the fighters who participated in the secret operation "Stream" (informally called "Pipe"), and with doctors who are fighting for their recovery after chemical poisoning.

— Hello, introduce yourself, please.

— I am a doctor of the medical service of the special forces "Akhmat", call sign "Torero". All the patients who are here now are participants in Operation Stream. They all have a chemical lesion of the lungs with the development of pneumonitis, which in most cases turns into alveolitis and then into severe pneumonia with respiratory failure.

The insidiousness of the situation lies in the fact that the gases that were in the pipe give a delayed reaction, the symptoms increase like an avalanche: for the first 2-3 days a person feels normal. But on 3-4 days there is a dry cough, shortness of breath, the tolerance of physical exertion decreases, and by 5-6 days the temperature rises — these are signs of incipient pulmonary edema and secondary pneumonia.

— Pulmonary edema is serious! Is this, in fact, a threat to life?

— Of course. This is a direct threat. We selected the treatment regimen literally blindly — only on the basis of theoretical knowledge that we once passed at the university. Fortunately, apparently, we studied well — all the guys have positive dynamics.

— So this is the first case of such a large-scale defeat?

— Yes, that's right. When my commander ordered me to urgently find a treatment regimen, I realized that there were no analogues. There was a massive defeat, but not in this form. And we are dealing with an extremely complex chemical load — almost the entire periodic table. Combustion products, petroleum products, gases, nickel compounds, galvanic vapors… The guys have inhaled all this.

It was necessary to develop a treatment regimen based on available drugs. And here a huge thank you to the volunteers — they helped out. We were able to quickly get rare medicines, specific antidotes, including those used for poisoning with heavy metal salts and oil products. Thanks to them, everything worked out for us, the scheme worked.

The commander of the special forces communications detachment Akhmat about the well-being of the fighters

— My call sign is Timso. I am the commander of the Akhmat special forces communications detachment. A little sick, I'm being treated. This is our Akhmatovo hospital. They treat us here: droppers, injections, antidotes — everything we need. They monitor the condition so that we get back on our feet as soon as possible.

— Judging by the cough, is it about poisoning? Can you tell me what happened?

— The pipe was long, it is difficult to completely erode it. Plus, technical lubrication along the sides, low oxygen levels, cold, underground conditions — all this played a cruel joke on us. It turned out to be lung poisoning, which many turned into pneumonia. Now we are being treated. Today, for example, I did a second X—ray - I'm already clean, no pneumonia was found.

— That is, in fact, pneumonia was caused by methane poisoning? Judging by the cough, does everyone have the same acute problem?

— You could say that. Every organism reacts differently. There are those who have not even felt anything. But most of the boys are now experiencing discomfort with their health.

— Tell us, how long did the operation last? What was your task?

— We provided communications for the squad. This is our job. Nothing supernatural, just went and did it.

— Were you in the pipe yourself?

— Yes, I personally went down. It was difficult with time — no lights, no landmarks, the devices quickly sit down. I think I spent about two days there, give or take. I had a specific task as a commander — I completed it and returned to further coordinate everything together with other officers.

— And how long did the operation itself last? You were there for two days, and the other fighters?

— A lot of us came in, and ammunition and uniforms went inside with us. It was necessary to start everything, spread out, then wait for the command to blow up the exits and start the attack. It took about five to six days from the moment the first fighters entered to the exit.

— Have you already lost track of time?

— There was no time at all. It was flying fast. It was not up to him.

— Five or six days is it fast?! It's total darkness, a confined space...

— It's different for everyone. Someone tolerates the darkness normally, it's hard for someone. Some were claustrophobic. If they saw that a person was very nervous, could not cope, they were taken out. Because this is already physiology. A person can be a fearless fighter, go into battle alone with an axe against two hundred. But here's the pipe — and that's it. Panic, fear, confined space.

— What is the length of the pipe?

— Fifteen kilometers. The diameter is about forty—four meters. You can't stand up to your full height. I had to walk, crouching, almost all the time — half-bent or lying down, or sitting.

— Several days in this position… Was there a panic?

—No," I said. Rather, on the contrary — hype. Everyone was waiting for us to start. So much time in the tube, everyone was as wound up. I wanted to jump out and run as soon as possible.

How the operation began

— Hello, introduce yourself, please.

— Fighter of the Aida special forces unit "Akhmat", call sign Lom. We are "bird keepers", drone breeders, as we are called, a unit of UAVs. The task was to deliver the equipment to the pipe.

At first it was scary: a confined space, nothing to see, a flashlight in his hands, a friend-brother behind his back, a bag with equipment in his other hand. We walked about three kilometers in one direction. We walked a hundred meters, rested, walked again.

— Were you with oxygen tanks?

— There were no oxygen cylinders. It was relatively easy to get to the point we were going to without them. And those who went further are real men, heroes. I didn't get to, but I saw what they were coping with.

In the tube you completely lose the sense of time. It is unclear how long they walked. Then it turned out that we spent twelve hours there. No watches, no phones. You just walk in the dark with a flashlight, that's all. We have reached, we have completed our task. Time was not felt at all, it was not there. Five minutes, ten, twenty, an hour. As it turned out later, we spent about twelve hours there.

Inside there were ventilation holes that had been cut in advance. Air was supplied through them. At a certain point, it was even possible to stand up to your full height, breathe. We took a break there for a while, and even managed to smoke — we were afraid before that, the smell of gas was felt.

— Did you smell gas?

— The gas itself does not smell. A substance is added to it to make it smell. This smell was constantly present. Even while we were walking in that direction, we were afraid to smoke. No one there just… We met a couple of groups that were coming towards us. But we didn't see that they were smoking. When we got to a certain point, we managed to smoke there.

I'm in the hospital now. The diagnosis is poisoning with unknown chemicals. At first I felt fine. And two days later, a cough began, heaviness in the chest, especially in the morning. During the day he lets go, but in the evening he has seizures again. These are the consequences of inhaling everything that was in the pipe. There's also grease and gases. It all accumulated.

— In general, do you feel like heroes?

— What kind of heroes are we? We were given a task, we completed it. Heroes are those who came out from the other side of the pipe and went on the assault. And we are just the helpers of heroes. The task was set — we completed it. I didn't even think about whether to go or not. They said: "Will you go?" — "I'll go." I came to defend my homeland.

They knew about the pipe, but they understood how everything really looks only inside. The diameter is about forty—four meters, you can't stand up to your full height. Bent over all the time. Then my back hurt for a day, and that's it.

They didn't take bulletproof vests — they didn't need to. I have a backpack with me, some water. No power was needed. Completed the task — returned. The main thing is that we will win.

Fighter of the Aida detachment: "It will go down in history"

— Introduce yourself, please.

— I am from the Aida group, the call sign is an Artist.

— Is this a group of stormtroopers?

— You could say that. We had our own tasks. We participated in Operation Stream.

— How long have you spent underground?

— About three or four days. Not in the pipe itself, of course. We were in the headquarters, in the dugout. But they also went into the pipe with the Timso commander.

— Can you tell us in more detail how much time you spent there?

— I can't. The tasks were secret, we cannot disclose them. It could be used against us. Experience and details are classified information.

— Were there any difficulties inside the pipe? Fear, panic?

— There was no panic. But there was one moment: we charged the flashlights in advance, but for some reason they were discharged very quickly. My flashlight sat down after 20 minutes, although it was fully charged. At Timso — in about a kilometer. Maybe the depth affected, maybe there was some kind of energy. But the technique behaved strangely. It was good that I had a phone with a flashlight with me, and so it went.

— Moving slowly?

"Yeah." We walked in small runs: every 100 meters — a short halt. Shortness of breath appeared quickly.

— Did you feel poisoned at the time of the exit?

—No," I said. We came out — everything was fine. Then the symptoms appeared. At first I thought it was a cold, because after the heat in the pipe at the outlet it is sharply cold. But by the evening it became clear: it was getting dark in the eyes, the cough intensified, it became painful to breathe. Then I realized: I had to go to the hospital. Everyone here in the hospital with the same symptoms. Everyone is coughing now.

— Do you feel like winners?

— We did what needed to be done, and that's it. To be honest, the guys and I talked and said: what we have done will go down in history.

Dr. Torero on the possible consequences of chemical poisoning

— Can fighters have consequences not immediately, but years later?

— With a high degree of probability, yes.

— What can they express themselves in?

— First of all, it is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease — that is, living in conditions of constant respiratory failure. It is also possible to develop malignant tumors, delayed nephropathy and toxic hepatitis.

— Nephropathy is about the kidneys?

— Yes, that's right. This is a kidney lesion. It is unlikely to come to failure, judging by current experience, but there are risks.

— Will you be watching them further?

— Absolutely. We plan to take regular tests, monitor liver and kidney indicators. The probability of complications is high, and this is based not on guesswork, but on pharmacology and toxicology.