ŁÓDŹ, POLAND -- The officer commanding medical training for Operation UNIFIER says Ukrainian troops don't have the supplies they need to put their training into action on the front lines of the country's war with Russia.

Major Heath Robson oversees the training of Ukrainian medics on the Polish Armed Forces’ Military Medical Training Center a few hours outside of Warsaw

He told Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland that Ukrainian troops desperately need tourniquets, gurneys and hypothermia blankets during her visit to the base today.

He says Ukrainian troops are getting very good instruction, but are reduced to improvising supplies on the battlefield.

He says often they're using things like doors as gurneys to carry the wounded.

Freeland and Blair visited the base after returning from Ukraine, where they marked the second anniversary of the Russian invasion Saturday with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 25, 2024.