Pentagon Approves Sending Wounded Ukrainian Troops To US Military Hospital In Germany

The Pentagon has already been running programs to train Ukrainian soldiers on how to operate US-supplied long-range rocket systems, namely the HIMARS, in neighboring countries like Poland. Currently, the administration is mulling training pilots too, with the House having recently set aside the funds to do it, pending an internal White House debate over providing US jets (or possibly allied jets).

At a moment the US military’s involvement in the Ukraine war continues sliding from ‘indirect’ to potentially more direct, the Pentagon announced Tuesday that the US will begin treating wounded Ukrainian troops at an American military hospital in Germany.

Image: US Army

Germany is one of the multiple locations in Europe that US soldiers are currently training Ukrainian forces. As for medical aid, there’s long been speculation that the US Army could already be providing assistance in this area in Poland.

But now the biggest US military hospital outside the continental United States will host wounded Ukrainian troops:

Ukrainian troops would be treated at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center if needed, the official said.

Adjacent to the Ramstein Air Base southwest of Frankfurt, it is the largest U.S. military hospital outside the continental United States.

It’s widely believed that Ukraine’s forces have suffered immense losses after six months of the Russian invasion, but no one knows precisely how many dead and wounded, given Ukraine’s defense ministry won’t publish the information on fears that it could be a boost to “Kremlin propaganda”.

However, within the past two months Kiev officials have belatedly acknowledged losing “up to 200 troops a day” due to the “complete lack of parity” between the Russian and Ukrainian militaries. 

“The U.S. military is now offering medical care to wounded Ukrainian troops at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, the premier American hospital in Europe, Military Times has learned.”https://t.co/xJ80HI9E53

— Justin Coleman (@DemopJ) July 27, 2022

Pentagon leadership has meanwhile denied reports that hospital care to wounded Ukrainian troops had already been underway in Germany:

However, Landstuhl has not yet received Ukrainian service members for medical care yet. An official from US European Command told CNN, “We have not treated any Ukraine troops at Landstuhl”. As per the report, the official said that the purpose of the memo was to remove any red tape that would hinder the process of treating Ukrainian soldiers if and when the need arose. 

US Army’s Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, file image

Moscow will likely see this as yet another sign of growing Pentagon involvement in the Ukraine conflict, which US commanders have still refused to acknowledge as a “proxy war”.