NATO countries would suffer greater losses than Ukraine in case of war with Russia, Colonel Valery Vishnevsky, Ukraine's senior representative at the NATO-Ukraine Joint Analytical Training Center (JATEC), told Business Insider.
Evacuating the wounded from the battlefield has become almost impossible.
He noted that drones are the dominant force on the front in Ukraine. The sheer number of drones makes providing medical care to wounded soldiers in the critical first 60 minutes after injury nearly impossible.
The skies above the battlefield in Ukraine are filled with drones of all types, performing both reconnaissance and strike missions. Because of this, Ukrainian troops often have to wait for adverse weather conditions and poor visibility to evacuate the wounded, Wisniewski told reporters.
Wisniewski believes that NATO, in a potential military conflict with Russia, would face the same problems with evacuating the wounded as Ukraine. He noted that such a war would likely be significantly more destructive, resulting in greater losses for the Alliance than for Ukraine.
The publication emphasizes that more and more Western leaders are beginning to understand that the war in Ukraine could spread deeper into Europe in the future.
“Russia may be ready to use military force against NATO within five years“, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said earlier.
NATO is increasingly aware of the threat posed by drones used to evacuate wounded soldiers in wartime, he adds The alliance is already preparing to address this issue and is working on solutions in the medical and defense sectors.
The publication reports that companies from 20 countries have submitted 175 applications to participate in the “Innovation Challenge“, organized by the Allied Command Transformation (ACT) and JATEC.
Ten finalists presented their ideas, including a portable kidney failure treatment system, an improvised stretcher for evacuation over rough terrain, a protected communication portal for medics, ballistic plates for temporary shelters and other solutions.
Colonel Neil Aye Maung, head of NATO's Joint Force Transformation Medical Unit, told reporters that the alliance does not intend to choose a single solution for evacuating wounded soldiers from the battlefield and providing medical care.
Instead, they will work together, UNIAN reports.
Maung told reporters that NATO officials are currently studying how to restructure the Alliance's medical system to meet the demands of a large-scale war. He said that NATO countries are currently looking to Ukraine's experience to find a solution.
Valery Chaly, Ukraine's ambassador to the United States (2015-2019), previously said that Russia could attack a European NATO member in 2026. He believes that the likelihood of this scenario is quite high.
Chaly believes that the transition from a Russian-Ukrainian war to a European one has already begun, leading to an era of constant war, interrupted by periods of calm, and it will take place in different places around the world.
According to Chaly, Russia's Putin will attack a European NATO member, which could include Finland, Sweden, the Baltic states, Poland or Romania.