article_snippet: Russian troops back up the account of a 20-year-old tankist who claims he was hurt fighting in a civil war which has torn Ukraine apart, according to blogger Aric Toler.
article_snippet: On March 2 the tankist in question, Dorzhi Batomunkuyev, gave an explosive interview to Russian independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta in which Novaya Gazeta claimed to have sustained injuries fighting against government forces in Ukraine.
article_snippet: According to Toler all of this gives credibility to Batomunkuyev's more revealing claims that Toler was hurt on February 19 when being fired upon by Ukrainian soldiers in the deadly 'Debaltseve pocket' near the strategic transport hub seized by rebel forces.
article_snippet: A despatch from separatist fighters on February 19 describes how the road between Debaltseve-Artemivsk in the area of Lohvynove became a 'road of death' for Ukrainian soldiers - though Russian fighter Batomunkuyev escaped with his life.
article_snippet: his is apparently far from home recovering from serious injuries in Rostov near the Ukrainian border after being transferred from a burn recovery unit in a Donetsk.
article_snippet: Regardless, one of these tankists was in a burn unit in Ukraine from battlefield injuries, and nearly all of the verifiable details provided in his interview can be confirmed through open source data. '
highlights_snippet: Back up the account of tankist who claims he was hurt in Ukraine civil war .
  
highlights_snippet: Dorzhi Batomunkuyev claimed to have suffered burns near  Debaltseve .
  