Wounded soldiers that Norway is to evacuate must first be transported to a neighboring country by someone other than Norway, the Ministry of Justice and Emergency Management stated on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, it became clear that Norway would take in wounded soldiers from the Ukraine war. But Norway does not have the opportunity to evacuate soldiers straight from the front, State Secretary Astrid Bergmål (AP) in the Ministry of Justice and Emergency Preparedness wrote in an email to NTB.
Injured soldiers that the Ukrainian authorities want to evacuate must first be transported to one of the neighboring countries. Further evacuation to Norway will take place from there, Bergmål wrote.
Melby’s critique
Liberal Party (V) leader Guri Melby said on Tuesday that the government should bring wounded soldiers to Norway directly from Ukraine.
“It is incomprehensible to me if the government now still refuses to accept wounded soldiers directly from Ukraine and that they must come from third countries, which takes longer and makes the situation more critical,” she told VG on Tuesday.
The Ministry insists that the soldiers can not be retrieved directly from Ukraine.
“It is currently not possible to fly to Ukraine, much less to the front. Both Norway and other countries that contribute with medical evacuations must consider the safety of their own personnel.”
No other country evacuates wounded soldiers directly from Ukraine, Bergmål stated.
Regular routines
Bergmål added that the evacuation of wounded soldiers would take place through the same mechanisms as the evacuation of wounded civilians.
“Fixed routines have been set up for handling the transport of patients, and Norway has several aircraft capacities that can be used.”
Norway was first asked to provide assistance through the EU scheme for civil emergency preparedness on April 23. Three new requests were received in May.
Source : © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayNews
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The sooner this tragedy ends, the better – and safer – for everyone. I hope the wounded are cared for and that Peace Prize Norway *will* push for a peace (treaty).
By the way, JominiW continues to have the best and most detailed Western chronicle of military events, at https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1531802118155296771.html
Also, a heartening development is that Ukraine’s Azov Battalion is discarding its Nazi 2nd SS Division’s Wolfsangel unit symbol as its own, to be replaced by a more appropriate, non-Nazi Ukrainian one. Better the Ukrainians de-nazify themselves than the Russians doing it (to them).
And I’ve just posted this elsewhere:
Re: political-soapbox: “Russian separatist troops mutiny against Putin on video”
… serving to make the Kremlin more desperate. Should we continue to escalate the war with more weapons (instead of pushing the Ukrainians to agree to a fair treaty), expecting the Russians to crack and collapse into anarchy as they did in 1917 … or pushing them into nuclear holocaust?
Not an acceptable nuclear chicken gamble, with our families’ – children’s – lives.
Lou Coatney, usma x1968 Co. K-1, AUS (vol.) 67-69 ConUS&USArEur
political-soapbox: “Russian separatist troops mutiny against Putin on video”
“Russian separatist troops mutiny against Putin on video: Commander complains his men have been thrown into bloody fighting without food, equipment or medicine and despite suffering ‘chronic illness’” in the Daily Mail at https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10878401/Ukraine-war-Russian-separatist-troops-complain-conditions-front.html
“Conscripted troops sent to fight for Russia in Ukraine have mutinied on camera, saying they have been sent to the frontlines without equipment, medicine or food.
“In footage posted on Telegram, the soldiers – who claimed to be from the 113th rifle regiment of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic – say they have been fighting for months in ‘hunger and cold’ without proper kit or medical care.
“Their commander says men with chronic medical conditions, who should have escaped the draft, have instead been sent into the midst of the fighting alongside carers and those with young children….”
“Documents Reveal Hundreds of Russian Troops Broke Ranks Over Ukraine Orders” in The Wall Street Journal at https://www.wsj.com/articles/documents-reveal-hundreds-of-russian-troops-broke-ranks-over-ukraine-orders-11654094212?st=v1g3zsrmwy7v87w&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
Subhed: “Desertions and refusal to engage in the invasion have put Moscow in a bind over how to punish service members without drawing attention to the problem”
“Hundreds of Russian soldiers have escaped the fighting in Ukraine or refused to take part during the early stages of the war, according to military decrees viewed by The Wall Street Journal as well as accused soldiers and lawyers defending them.
“Military analysts and Ukrainian officials say there have been many more….”
David, ’04 Dad
My comment elsewhere, in response to the British Financial Times article https://www.ft.com/content/5d415345-e9cf-4138-80d3-debdf9396d72
“The west must hold its nerve on Ukraine | Financial Times
The Ukrainians are increasingly edgy because they worry that western support is going soft. They know that, in a straight fight with Russia, Ukraine has the advantage only on the third front …”
My response:
Ah, the war-rabid British neocons who presumably opposed Russia getting just the Crimea and East Ukraine as part of a fair peace and security treaty which would have averted this tragedy and which we OWE the Russians after backing/instigating the 2014 Kyiv coup – not popular revolution, for 4 obvious reasons – with which we (not the Russians) broke the legal Ukraine government’s sovereignty (as well as Atlantic Charter) and *started* this latest neocon holocaust war.
The Russians appear to already be at their last strength, and Lavrov’s trip to Turkey indicates they’re finally ready to sign a treaty.And in apparent response to our own American weapons escalation of the war, the Russians are holding more nuclear war drills.
See my own column “Lou Coatney: Russia now left with no choice but nuclear war.” posted by Yahoo! Finance (too) on May 3.
Yesterday, Lavrov said the West is now waging Total War against Russia.
(Author) Gideon (Rachman) thus seems to be urging that we not lose our nerve plunging ourselves into a lemming-like nuclear mass suicide that will make Jonestown Guyana a minor historical footnote – if there is still history – by comparison.
We must instead push for a fair compromise and treaty, with Kyiv rightly conceding territory for it.
Incidentally, the war’s inflation was “driven home” to Americans on their way to family get-togethers over our Memorial Day weekend, where we can assume Joe Biden was cursed beyond polite description.
I think the Democrats are absolutely doomed in the upcoming 2022 midterm elections … as is us continuing any more support for this terrible, entirely unnecessary war after them.
So a treaty as soon as possible would be very wise … for the Democrats’ sake, let alone Ukrainians’ … and ours.