Report: Ukraine's healthcare system suffered over 1,000 attacks over full-scale war
Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukrainian hospitals, medical workers, and healthcare infrastructure suffered at least 1,014 attacks, according to a report by a coalition of Ukrainian and international institutions published on Aug. 10.
On average, the Ukrainian healthcare system suffered two attacks per day since Feb. 24, 2022. As of July 14, 2023, some 148 medical workers were killed and 106 were wounded, the report said.
The researchers also recorded 414 strikes that damaged or destroyed hospitals, 79 attacks against ambulances, 57 attacks against children's hospitals, and 40 attacks against maternity wards.
The report said that Russia attacks medical targets both deliberately and indiscriminately, creating a long-lasting impact on the civilian population and preventing their access to healthcare.
As an example, the report highlights a hospital in a frontline city in Donetsk Oblast that suffers from regular shelling since the start of the invasion.
"The missile was designed to destroy our surgery. There were no soldiers there..." an employee of the hospital told the researchers.
"The whole infrastructure in the city is destroyed, there are no schools, no kindergartens. We had a hospital, and it too had to be destroyed (by Russian forces). The maternity hospital was the first to suffer."
Ukrainian combat medics are also reportedly targeted by Russian forces on the battlefield and suffer torture in Russian captivity.
The report was compiled by the Ukrainian Healthcare Center, eyeWitness to Atrocities, Insecurity Insight, Media Initiative for Human Rights, and Physicians for Human Rights.
Martin Fornusek
