What a former Kansas governor saw in Ukraine: ‘More complex … more lethal’ war wounds

The battlefield injuries former Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer witnessed were unlike anything he’s seen in other warzones.

Colyer, a 63-year-old Johnson County physician, spent a month in Ukraine earlier this spring, working with the International Medical Corps to help advise doctors. Colyer has traveled to other conflict zones with the non-profit aid group in the past, including Soviet-controlled Afghanistan, Iraq, and Sudan.

Ukraine is different. More than two years into Russia’s invasion, millions of artillery rounds have been exchanged as the nations fight along a frontline that spans hundreds of miles. Add to that the drones, sometimes small quadcopters essentially outfitted with a grenade, that drop destruction from above with little warning.

That produces different injuries than a conflict characterized chiefly by gunfire or improvised explosive devices.

“They’re certainly much more complex, much more lethal,” Colyer, describing the injuries in Ukraine, said in a recent interview with The Star.

Colyer, a Republican, served as governor for a little less than a year. He took office in January 2018 after Gov. Sam Brownback resigned to become the U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom. Colyer lost an extremely close GOP primary in 2018 and ran for governor again in 2021 but dropped out after a prostate cancer diagnosis.

The former governor, with some exceptions, has stayed mostly out of public view since then. He endorsed former President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election last November after visiting Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

But Colyer is reemerging now to warn Americans about the nature of the war in Ukraine.

The injuries inflicted are challenging to surgeons, though he praised the ingenuity of Ukrainian doctors. However, the number of injuries is astounding.

The U.S. health care system isn’t prepared to respond to the large numbers of severely wounded civilians and soldiers – injured by artillery and drones – that could result from a war with Russia, China, or North Korea, Colyer wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed on Friday. American and European officials have long feared the war could spread if Russia eventually captures Ukraine.

Colyer told The Star that one hospital he visited, which he likened to Research Medical Center, had just treated its 28,000th war wound. For perspective, nearly 21,000 American service members were injured in action during the entirety of the war in Afghanistan.

“You multiply that into other places … and everywhere is just super crowded,” Colyer said.

The United States has committed $175 billion in aid for Ukraine since the war began in February 2022. Many Republicans at the start of the war vowed to help Ukraine, but support for continued U.S. aid has waned, including among some members of Congress from Kansas.

Over some GOP opposition, Congress approved $61 billion more for Ukraine in April as part of a $95 billion package that also included aid to Israel and Taiwan. Ukraine aid has long split the Kansas congressional delegation.

“Enough is enough,” Sen. Roger Marshall, a Republican who originally voted for U.S. military aid to Ukraine, before reversing course as the war stretched on, said last month. “For me, it will always be America first – our safety, health, and security above all else.”

Republicans opposed to aid are often from the more populist wing of their party -- a faction cultivated by Trump. Meanwhile, the lawmakers who remain from the pre-Trump Republican establishment have remained steadfast in their support for helping Ukraine push back the Russian invasion.

Sen. Jerry Moran, who serves on the Senate Intelligence Committee, is among those strongly advocating for additional support, saying the money sent to Ukraine benefits the United States.

“There is no path forward for Ukraine, there is no path forward for Israel or for Taiwan if the United States of America disengages in the world,” Moran said on the Senate floor last month. “The price tag is significant, but in the absence of taking a stand now, we have to take a stand tomorrow. Do what we need to do today or pay a price later, and later will be even more costly.”

In the House, Reps. Sharice Davids, a Democrat, and Jake LaTurner, a Republican, supported an April bill that provided additional funding for Ukraine. Republican Reps. Tracey Mann and Ron Estes voted against it.

The measure passed after House Speaker Mike Johnson called a vote despite resistance from some Republicans; he later survived an attempt to remove him from the speakership with help from Democratic lawmakers.

“They were very thankful to the U.S.,” Colyer said, adding that he was in Ukraine during the aid vote in Congress. Still, Ukrainians “really felt like they were fighting with one hand tied behind their back.”

For much of the war, President Joe Biden has prohibited Ukraine from using American weapons to attack inside Russia, with his administration casting the policy as necessary to prevent a dangerous escalation of the conflict. Biden in the past couple weeks has softened that stance, however, and has begun allowing Ukraine to use American weapons to attack inside Russia to help repel advances by Russia toward Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city.

Colyer declined to comment for this story about whether he believes opposition to further American aid is a mistake. But when asked about how the war is perceived in the United States compared to what he saw in Ukraine, he said Americans certainly want to help Ukraine “on the humanitarian side” and said there’s broad support for helping people.

“We don’t see this war on our newsfeeds, it’s not on TV, which is something that is a big deal. And I think that’s a mistake,” Colyer said.

Colyer painted a portrait of a Ukraine rocked by war but resilient. The doctors and other health care professionals in the country are well trained and can go head to head with American physicians, he said. The problem – in addition to the war taking out some medical facilities – is a lack of good equipment.

Medical instruments are often old and worn out. Sometimes, it’s as simple as dull scissors.

“These are first-world doctors and technologies – our understanding – using third-world equipment,” Colyer said.

Colyer described his role in Ukraine as working with the International Medical Corps to help identify “gaps” in service. He mentioned the medical instruments as one example.

IMC, founded in 1984, helps provide medical assistance in areas wracked by war and disaster but also offers training. In 2022 the organization received about 56% of its revenue from contracts and grants, with about 40% coming from contributions. Colyer stressed the importance of contributions, saying donations allow the organization to start up operations across the globe, including looking at what work to do next in Ukraine.

Since returning to the United States, Colyer has visited Washington, D.C., once and plans to go again to share his medical perspective on what is taking place in Ukraine.

“I don’t see this war ending anytime soon,” Colyer said. “I think this war goes on for a couple more years.”