Paramedic: 95% of tourniquets in Ukrainian army are of poor quality, meaning death for soldiers

Yaroslav Vus, head of the All-Ukrainian Union of Paramedics, told Espreso.

"The issue of low-quality tourniquets actually existed before the full-scale war. 95% soldiers of the Ukrainian army are equipped with low-quality tourniquets. Their problem is that when a soldier is wounded, he is 100% dead with poor-quality tourniquets. 95% of our soldiers will die if they get wounded. They have some sh*t in their first aid kits that cannot stop the bleeding," he said.

The paramedic added that this is a very pressing issue.

"I still don't understand why this is not under control, why the command of the Medical Forces puts cheap, Chinese tourniquets in the first aid kits. I can't explain it except for the desire to steal and steal. A good tourniquet costs $20-30, and a bad one can be bought for a dollar on the Internet," Vus said.

He noted that Ukrainian producers Sich and Dnipro are ready to meet state orders for tourniquets.

"They produce them both for the Ukrainian market and abroad. If the Armed Forces were to make direct purchases, everything would remain in Ukraine. As it is, we are at war, and we sell our tourniquets to Poland, while we buy cheap Chinese fakes. There are no government orders - in 2023, there was not a single order for Sich or Dnipro from Ukraine," the paramedic concluded.