A disease which makes you bleed out of your eyes and is currently sweeping through the Russian army was originally dismissed by Kremlin bosses, Ukrainian officials have claimed.
Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) has reported an outbreak of mouse fever among Russian units in Kupyansk.
The troops, who are supposedly struggling with winter provisions, are contracting the disease from direct contact with rodents or by inhaling the creature’s faeces.
The streptococcal infection causes “severe headache, body temperature rising to 40 degrees, rashes and redness, decreased blood pressure, haemorrhages in the eyes, nausea and vomiting several times a day”.
The HUR has said Russian commanders are ignoring the outbreak, considering it an excuse to avoid fighting.
The agency posted on Telegram: “In the Kupyansk direction of the front of the occupiers, mouse fever is mowing down en masse. As a result, mouse fever significantly reduced the fighting ability of Russian rats.
“Complaints about fever from personnel of the Russian army, who are involved in the war against Ukraine, were ignored by the command, regarding them as another manifestation of evasion from participating in combat operations.
“In addition, at the first stage of the course, ‘mouse fever’ resembles an ordinary flu.”
The outbreak comes after Ukraine’s forces took a more defensive posture for the colder months after the summer counteroffensive failed.
In a recent assessment, the UK Ministry of Defence said: “In recent weeks, Ukraine has mobilised a concerted effort to improve field fortifications as its forces pivot to a more defensive posture along much of the front line.”
The Kremlin’s defences held firm against Ukraine’s assault, which utilised Western-supplied weapons but lacked essential air cover along the 600-mile front line.
