RT.com
21 Nov 2023, 05:43 GMT+10
Ukraine's president has fired his head of military medical corps
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has insisted on "fundamental" changes to the way the Ukrainian military manages battlefield casualties, after sacking Medical Forces commander Major-General Tatyana Ostashchenko on Sunday evening.
Zelensky's move came after meeting with the recently-appointed defense minister, Rustem Umerov, amid recriminations in Kiev about the failure of its summer counteroffensive against Russia.
"There is little time left to wait for results. Quick action is needed for forthcoming changes," Zelensky said, adding that the Ukrainian military needs "a fundamentally new level of medical support."
Umerov, who replaced Aleksey Reznikov in September, has argued in social media posts that tactical medicine needs to be "digitized" and that there was "simply no place for such problems as subpar tourniquets."
Anonymous Ukrainian sources who spoke with the British outlet The Daily Telegraph have complained about "substandard" equipment such as field kits Kiev had bought from China. They also claimed that poor training caused combat medics to use tourniquets when there was no need, thereby increasing the number of amputations.
According to Russian estimates, at least 90,000 Ukrainian troops became casualties during the four months of heavy fighting in the south, with little to nothing to show for it. The latest narrative coming out of Kiev was that the "summer counteroffensive" was really just a psychological operation and that the real attack is still to take place.
Ostashchenko is a native of Lviv in western Ukraine and was appointed head of the medical branch in 2021 - the first female branch chief and the first woman major-general in the country's history, as Kiev had proudly pointed out. She was replaced by Major-General Anatoly Kazmirchuk, the commander of Kiev's main military hospital.
On Monday, Zelensky also purged the leadership of the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine (SSSCIP), after its head Yury Shchigol and his deputy Viktor Zhora were implicated in a corruption scheme.
(RT.com)
Get a daily dose of Birmingham News news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Birmingham News.
More InformationFRANKLIN, Tennessee: Hundreds of thousands of Nissan and Infiniti vehicles are being recalled across the United States due to a potential...
REDMOND, Washington: Microsoft is the latest tech giant to announce significant job cuts, as the financial strain of building next-generation...
LONDON UK - U.S. stock markets were closed on Friday for Independence Day. Global Forex Markets Wrap Up Friday with Greeback Comeback...
SANTA CLARA, California: Nvidia came within a whisker of making financial history on July 3, briefly surpassing Apple's all-time market...
SACRAMENTO, California: California's multibillion-dollar farms are facing a growing crisis—not from drought or pests, but from a sudden...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: President Donald Trump says the United States could soon reach a trade deal with India. He believes this deal would...
LONDON, U.K.: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer won a vote in Parliament this week to move ahead with changes to the country's welfare...
PARIS, France: L'Oréal is making a fresh play in the booming premium haircare segment with a new acquisition. The French beauty conglomerate...
LONDON, UK - Lawmakers in the United Kingdom have voted overwhelmingly to proscribe the direct-action group Palestine Action as a terrorist...
LONDON, U.K.: British oil giant Shell has denied reports that it is in talks to acquire rival oil company BP. The Wall Street Journal...
(New York) - China's government has erased Hong Kong's freedoms since imposing the draconian National Security Law on June 30, 2020,...
Pune (Maharashtra) [India], July 5 (ANI): The first screening of 'Tanvi The Great,' directed by actor Anupam Kher, was held on Saturday...