An activist Muslim cleric in Ukraine with an arrest warrant over his head, Said Ismahilov had no doubt of the danger as Russian troops advanced on the capital, Kyiv, at the start of the war last year.
He was then living in the tranquil Kyiv suburb of Bucha, which lay right in the path of the advancing Russian tank columns.
Mr. Ismahilov pointed to the fields in front where he said farmers had doggedly harvested the wheat even in midst of a Russian rocket attack.
At the time of the invasion, Mr. Ismahilov was one of the most senior Muslim clerics in Ukraine, but afterward, Mr. Ismahilov, 44, joined the Ukrainian territorial defense and served as the first Muslim chaplain in the Ukrainian military.
He now also works as a combat medic with the medical charity ASAP Rescue Ukraine.
Persons:
Said Ismahilov, “, ”, stretchers, Ismahilov
Organizations:
Muslim, Rescue
Locations:
Ukraine, Kyiv, Bucha, Russian, Ukrainian, Rescue Ukraine