Many Ukrainians are losing limbs in battle because aid is being provided under NATO standards that aren’t suitable for Ukraine

Tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers have returned from the front without limbs, and many amputations are due not so much to the nature of the injuries as to the improper use of a tourniquet.

This was reported by the British newspaper The Telegraph, citing military doctors.

Ukraine’s chief military surgeon said that every fourth amputation is linked to the incorrect use of such a simple device as a tourniquet.

Ukraine’s current medical doctrine—based on NATO tactical medicine methods that the U.S. and its allies used to deal with casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan—does not match the nature of this war of attrition.

“When Russia’s full-scale invasion occurred in 2022, all the American recommendations for Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) were translated into Ukrainian. But they were written for a different war,” said Captain Rom Stevens, a former U.S. Navy doctor who regularly volunteers in Ukraine.

According to doctors, in Iraq and Afghanistan the wounded were evacuated quickly—within an hour. In the current war, however, waiting for medical care can last hours or even days, which sharply reduces the effectiveness of Alliance protocols and increases the number of complications. Moreover, due to incorrect tourniquet application, it later becomes necessary to amputate not only the limb portion damaged in combat, but the entire limb—often with virtually no chance of fitting a prosthesis.

“I have seen many cases of very high amputations in young men who were otherwise healthy—both legs, and sometimes both arms. Often a prosthesis cannot be fitted because the limb was amputated too high,” Stevens added.