US Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin permitted the remedy of wounded Ukrainian troopers at a US army hospital in Germany, in keeping with a memo obtained by CNN and confirmed by two US protection officers.
The plan permits for the remedy of as much as 18 wounded troopers at a time a Landstuhl Regional Medical Heart, the large hospital in Germany the place the army has, for years, handled US service members who suffered accidents in fight.
Austin provided verbal steering on Could 26 to start providing remedy to wounded Ukraine troopers, in keeping with the memo. On June 29, Austin formalized the verbal steering and in a memo entitled “Steerage for Medical Remedy of Wounded Ukrainian Service Members.”
Regardless of the plan receiving closing approval almost one month in the past, Landstuhl has not but obtained Ukrainian service members for medical care.
An official from US European Command advised CNN, “We’ve got not handled any Ukraine troops at Landstuhl.”
The official mentioned the aim of the memo was to take away any purple tape that might decelerate the method of providing remedy if the necessity arose. The plan would allow remedy if there was no facility accessible in Ukraine or in a better nation. Landstuhl is roughly 700 miles (greater than 1,000 kilometers) from the Ukrainian border.
If Landstuhl had been to obtain wounded Ukrainian troops, the service members must go away Ukraine by prepare or automotive, which has no troops in Ukraine, earlier than the US might evacuate them by air to Ramstein Air Base.
On Monday, Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Minister of Inner Affairs of Ukraine, posted a video on Twitter displaying Ukrainian troopers receiving prosthetic legs at a hospital in Chicago. A second video posted Tuesday confirmed the troopers strolling on the prosthetic limbs.
However this may seem like the primary authorization for Ukrainian troops to obtain remedy of army services as a substitute of civilian hospitals.
Extra background: In late-April, a bipartisan group of lawmakers wrote a letter to Austin and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging the administration to do extra to assist the “struggling healthcare techniques” in Ukraine and Poland.
One of many requests was to “scale-up” Landstuhl Regional Medical Heart to deal with sick and wounded Ukrainians. The authors mentioned it could comply with the US determination to supply remedy to Afghan refugees who transited via the adjoining Ramstein Air Base final 12 months. The letter additionally urged the administration to ship armored ambulances and set up a a number of army area hospitals alongside the Poland-Ukraine border.
“You may have a novel alternative to showcase American management by offering medical assist to Ukrainians that can encourage different NATO states to comply with swimsuit,” the authors wrote.
John Kirby, then serving because the Pentagon press secretary, mentioned Austin had obtained the letter dated April 22 and would “actually take it severely and reply appropriately.” Kirby mentioned that any determination to offer area hospitals or US humanitarian assist could be finished in session with the host nation.
CNN has reached out to various the letter’s signatories for remark.
On the day Austin issued verbal steering to start providing remedy to Ukrainian troopers, the highest US normal spoke along with his Ukrainian counterpart. A readout of the dialog between Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Employees Gen. Mark Milley and Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Gen. Valery Zaluzhny makes no point out of opening up US army medical services to Ukrainian service members
One month later, Austin formalized the verbal steering on a day he spoke with Ukrainian Minister of Protection Oleksii Reznikov. In response to a readout of the decision, Austin gave an replace on US safety help efforts, however there isn’t a point out of providing remedy to Ukrainian troopers.
