NATO’s logistics chief has stated that the US-led alliance would likely need to evacuate a large number of casualties using hospital trains in the event of a war with Russia.
NATO would face the challenge of managing a significant number of frontline casualties without the ability to airlift them for treatment in the event of a major war with Russia, according to its logistics chief.
Lieutenant-General Alexander Sollfrank, head of NATO’s Joint Support and Enabling Command (JSEC), outlined the difficulties that troops would face in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday.
“The challenge will be to swiftly ensure high-quality care for, in the worst case, a great number of wounded,” Sollfrank said.
The environment of a hypothetical conflict with Russia would be drastically different from what the US and its allies experienced in Afghanistan and Iraq, he added.
Unlike insurgents in the Middle East, Russia possesses the military capability to pose a threat to NATO aircraft, Sollfrank noted, predicting that medical evacuations would have to be conducted on the ground.
“For planning reasons, all options to take a great number of wounded to medical installations need to be considered, which includes trains but potentially also buses,” the NATO official said.
Ukraine is currently utilizing hospital trains to evacuate injured troops from the front line, as reported by CNN earlier this month.
NATO’s logistics command, based in the southern German town of Ulm, recently conducted an exercise focused on coordinating medical evacuations, Reuters reported.
JSEC contingency plans would necessitate a legal framework for issues such as the expedited transportation of narcotics across national borders, Sollfrank stated. He also called for a ‘military medical Schengen’ – mirroring the bloc’s need for a ‘military Schengen’ to rapidly deploy troops and weapons to its eastern flank, according to the official.
The US and its allies have alleged that Russia may be planning an attack on NATO, and that the West can delay or prevent that outcome by providing arms to Ukraine. NATO has been expanding in Europe for decades, in violation of assurances given before Moscow agreed to German reunification in 1990.
The Russian government has cited NATO’s approach to its borders and the bloc’s intention to include Kiev among its members as key factors contributing to the Ukraine conflict. Officials in Moscow have denied having any aggressive intentions toward NATO, which they view as a hostile force that must be deterred.