Russian Troops Told to Use Female Sanitary Products Amid Supply Issues—U.K.

Russian troops in Ukraine are running out of medical provisions, according to the U.K.'s Ministry of Defence, and have been asked to source their own combat first aid supplies.

The advice to reservists mobilized under President Putin's recent partial draft and now heading to the battlefield, according to British intelligence, is to use female sanitary products.

"Medical provision for Russian combat troops in Ukraine is probably growing worse," wrote the U.K. Ministry of Defence on Friday.

"Some newly mobilised Russian reservists have been ordered to source their own combat first aid supplies, with the advice that female sanitary products are a cost-effective solution."

Russian troops, including reservists, likely lack proper medical training and first-aid awareness, the U.K. Ministry of Defence says.

Modern tourniquets—the strap-like tool used to apply pressure on a limb to stop the flood of blood—are also "scarce," British officials say.

"Some Russia troops have obtained their own modern, Western-style combat tourniquets but have stowed them on their equipment using cable-ties, rather than with the Velcro provided, probably because such equipment is scarce and liable to be pilfered," the U.K. Ministry of Defence writes.

This practice "is almost certain to hamper or render impossible the timely application of tourniquet care in the case of catastrophic bleeding on the battlefield," concluded the British intelligence report.

The lack of medical supplies in the Russian army seems to be confirmed by footage which has appeared on Russian social media. A video widely shared on Telegram shows a military officer shouting at draftees that they are responsible for acquiring their own first aid supplies.

"Take sleeping bags with you. You will have to sleep where you have to," the officer can be heard saying in the likely leaked video. "All the army provides you with is uniforms and armour. "All this applies to medicine, diarrhoea tablets, and hydrogen peroxide tourniquets. I don't have enough tourniquets for you."

One draftee intervenes to point out that "there are no tourniquets in pharmacies," to which the officer responds: "Ask relatives ... get car first aid kits and take medical tourniquets from there. Ask your wives, girls, mothers for pads. The cheapest pads and the cheapest tampons."

The officer then adds: "Do you know what tampons are for? You stick it right into the bullet wound and that's it! The tampon begins to swell and closes the wound. I know this since the Chechen war."

Former army officer and lawmaker Dmitry Perminov said the video is "fake," as reported by the Daily Beast. Newsweek is still trying to verify the video.

This lack of medical provision is significantly affecting Russian troops' confidence and morale, according to British officials, in turn making them less willing to fight in offensive operations on the battlefield.

Reports on Russian troops' declining morale have been circulating since March, and this dissatisfaction is considered one of Moscow's key weaknesses for the Ukrainian military to exploit.

In early September, the British Ministry of Defence wrote that Russian forces were continuing to suffer from morale and discipline issues, caused by a combination of combat fatigue, the high number of casualties, and problems with their pay.

"The Russian military has consistently failed to provide basic entitlements to troops deployed in Ukraine, including appropriate uniform, arms and rations, as well as pay. This has almost certainly contributed to the continued fragile morale of much of the force," the ministry wrote on September 4.