U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin approved the treatment of wounded Ukrainian soldiers at a U.S. military hospital in Germany, according to a memo obtained by CNN and confirmed by two U.S. defense officials.
The program allows up to 18 wounded soldiers to be treated simultaneously at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany's large hospital, which has treated American soldiers wounded in combat for years.
According to the memo, on May 26, Austin verbally directed to begin treating wounded Ukrainian soldiers. On June 29, Austin formalized the guidelines verbally and in a memorandum titled "Guidelines for the Medical Treatment of Wounded Military Members of Ukraine."
Although the plan was finally approved nearly a month ago, Landstuhl has yet to take in any Ukrainian soldiers for medical care.
A U.S. European Command official told CNN, "We are not treating any Ukrainian troops in Landstuhl."
The official said the purpose of the memo is to remove any red tape that would slow down the process of delivering treatment if needed. The plan will allow treatment without facilities in Ukraine or nearby countries. Landstuhl is about 700 miles (over 1,000 kilometers) from the Ukrainian border.
If Landstull receives wounded Ukrainian troops, those service members will have to leave Ukraine, which has no troops in Ukraine, by train or car before the U.S. can airlift them to Ramstein Air Force Base.
On Monday, Anton Glashenko, an adviser to Ukraine's interior minister, tweeted a video showing Ukrainian soldiers receiving prosthetics at a Chicago hospital. A second video released Tuesday showed soldiers walking on prosthetic limbs.
However, this appears to be the first time Ukrainian troops have been allowed to receive treatment in military facilities rather than civilian hospitals.
More context: In late April, a bipartisan group of lawmakers sent a letter to Austin and U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken urging the administration to do more to support Ukraine and Poland's "troubled health care systems."
One of the requests is to expand the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center to treat the wounded and sick in Ukraine. The authors said this would follow a U.S. decision to provide treatment to Afghan refugees who passed through the neighboring Ramstein Air Force Base last year. The letter also called on the government to send armoured ambulances and build several military field hospitals along the Polish-Ukraine border.
"You have a unique opportunity to demonstrate U.S. leadership by providing medical assistance to Ukrainians that will inspire other NATO nations to follow suit," the authors wrote.
John Kirby, then serving as the Pentagon press secretary, said Austin had received the letter dated April 22 and would “certainly take it seriously and respond appropriately.” Kirby said that any decision to provide field hospitals or US humanitarian support would be done in consultation with the host country.
CNN has reached out to a number of the letter’s signatories for comment.
On the day Austin issued verbal guidance to begin offering treatment to Ukrainian soldiers, the top US general spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart. A readout of the conversation between Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Gen. Valery Zaluzhny makes no mention of opening up US military medical facilities to Ukrainian service members
One month later, Austin formalized the verbal guidance on a day he spoke with Ukrainian Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov. According to a readout of the call, Austin gave an update on US security assistance efforts, but there is no mention of offering treatment to Ukrainian soldiers.
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