Top Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail just published their detailed investigation into how “Ukraine’s substandard medical supplies are endangering soldiers as the war intensifies”. It cites volunteers with inside information into how serious this crisis has become over the past 18 months. They shockingly claimed that “the lack of quality medical supplies and equipment for the Ukrainian army puts more than one million soldiers at risk” and that many have already needlessly died because of this.
What differentiates their report from the slew of other Western ones across the past month trading blame over the counteroffensive’s failure is that it relies entirely on Ukrainian volunteers and concerns a strictly domestic issue outside of America’s ambit. These sources used their own names, thus maximizing the credibility of their accusations since they’re willing to be held to account for them, which therefore makes this newspaper of record’s report the most damning thus far.
It was already scandalous enough that the New York Times and Wall Street Journal recently reported on anonymous US officials’ sharp disagreements with the conduct of Ukraine’s counteroffensive, but now everyone knows that many of the casualties it experienced were avoidable. “A well-established quality control system” for tourniquets, medicine, and other related healthcare items could have prevented an untold number of troops from dying, yet none was ever established this entire time.
Left unsaid is the innuendo that this is likely due to systemic corruption, which in turn decimated the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and directly resulted in the authorities resorting to forcible recruitment measures that proved to be very unpopular with their people. This insight draws attention to the state’s self-sustaining cycle of rot brought about by its failure to effectively fight corruption, with the consequence now being that Kiev is struggling more than ever to replenish its growing losses.
Nevertheless, Zelensky has recently made a show out of supposedly cracking down on this scourge in the armed forces, so The Globe and Mail’s report might be opportunistically exploited by his clique to take this de facto purge even further on that pretext. Seeing as how some US officials have also begun pressuring him to hold planned presidential elections next year, he might even sincerely try to fix this problem in order to boost his popularity ahead of the next polls.
In any case, regards of whatever side one supports in the NATO-Russian proxy war, it would help average Ukrainians if their government finally ensured that recruits – many of whom are drafted on pain imprisonment or worse – receive proper medical supplies. Although this top Canadian newspaper had apolitical motivations in bringing this issue to the world’s attention, it still inadvertently exposed how corrupt Ukraine is, which further discredits its cause in the West at this crucial juncture in the conflict.
