Ensuring the security and maintenance of the army in Ukraine’s current composition over the next 10 years could cost up to $700 billion if Russia’s aggression continues, said Taras Kachka, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine.
“If the situation does not change, that is, if Russia’s aggressive behavior towards Europe and the world continues, it could cost up to $700 billion over the next 10 years to maintain the Ukrainian army in its current size and provide it with military personnel,” Kachka said during a panel discussion entitled “Ukraine: On the Front Lines of the Future” at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
As noted by the head of the Ministry of Economy, Ecology and Agriculture, Alexei Sobolev, the $700 billion mentioned is off-budget defense spending. In addition, according to him, more than $500 billion over the next decade should be allocated directly from Ukraine’s state budget for defense needs.
Sobolev stressed that to this end, Ukraine will fight corruption, reduce the share of the shadow economy, and try to collect more taxes.
“We must develop the economy so that it can support security, which, in turn, will allow the economy to grow,” Sobolev said, emphasizing the interdependence of economic prosperity and defense capabilities.
Government representatives also added that, despite significant defense spending, Ukraine continues to implement the reforms necessary for EU accession and is working to create tools to reduce risks for private investors.
Up to 80% hemostatic tourniquets supplied to the Ukrainian army are of poor quality, head of COR-Medical Tigran Amalyan has said.
“I think the most acute problem concerning both the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the healthcare system is a large number of poor quality tourniquets. We have conducted a research, we worked with military doctors, and we think up to 80% of tourniquets supplied to our army today are of poor quality,” he told a press conference in Kyiv on Thursday.
Amalyan said that one of the reasons why such a huge amount of poor quality tourniquets is supplied was the fact that the military do not check them on their own.
“The military want to take them without checking and then, in case of an injury, when they use them, tourniquets often crack. We even had to post several videos on our channel. We must inform all military that they should check tourniquets on their own,” he said.
Amalyan also noted that there are no protocols of transfer from civilian to military medicine in the country.
He also pointed at the fact that “a lot of highly qualified Ukrainian doctors, who should had been trained for dozens of years, have been simply transferred to the frontline. I know that several very serious specialists were killed on the battlefield. And they were among a few specialists of such a high level in the world.”
