San Francisco Frontiers - Russia turns to NATO countries for prosthetics amid war-related shortages

Russian soldiers and the public are paying the price of Putin’s war in Ukraine, which has claimed over a million casualties (Picture: AFP/Getty Images) Vladimir Putin’s government has dished out millions to buy prosthetics from Nato countries, including Germany. The grisly uptick in demand for European prosthetics has been caused by the ongoing Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. An estimated 1.2 million Russian soldiers have been killed, wounded or gone missing since the start of the war in February 2022, which is showing no sign of stopping.

The scale of the war means thousands of injured soldiers are returning from the front. Scores of Russian soldiers are returning from the front with serious injuries, including missing limbs (Picture: AFP/Getty Images) Russia is said to have imported £66 million worth of artificial limbs and joints from Germany in the first half of 2026 alone, over five times over before starting the war. Belgium and the Netherlands, also Nato members, were also on the list for Russian orders.

In total, the Kremlin’s imports from EU countries were worth £126 million in the first half of 2026 alone. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Up Next Previous Page Next Page One Ukrainian report mocked Putin: ‘You’re at war with NATO. You could have ordered them from friendly North Korea or Myanmar.’ Kremlin spent the most on prosthetic arms, legs and related components, accounting for around £34 million of the spend, followed by £31 million dished out on artificial hip, knee and other joint replacements, as reported by Forbes Russia’s analysis of Eurostat data.

More than a million Russian soldiers have been wounded, killed or gone missing since the war started in February 2022 (Picture: AP) Despite the massive Russian war machine, the country’s domestic prosthetics production has not managed to keep up with skyrocketing demand. Disabled people in the country received 152,661 artificial arms and legs from the government in 2024, compared with 99,515 the previous year, the Russian ministry of labour. The money spent on prosthetics could have paid for 1,000 new schools and 200 hospitals.

And every Russian child born since the war started could have received around £9,400, while pensions could have been boosted to over double. Separately, Russia is said to be paying over £71 million every day in benefits to the wounded victims of the ‘meat grinder’ and their relatives.

C.Lewis--SFF