Russian military hospitals overwhelmed by wounded soldiers from war in Ukraine, media reports
on Google
Russian military hospitals are struggling to cope with the number of soldiers wounded in the war against Ukraine, forcing authorities to repurpose civilian hospitals, maternity wards, and other medical facilities for military use, independent outlet Novaya Gazeta Europe reported on May 19.
"They don’t talk much about the 'special operation' soldiers because there are so many of them that military hospitals cannot accommodate them," a former nurse at the Dzhanelidze Research Institute of Emergency Medicine in St. Petersburg told the outlet, using the Kremlin's official term for the full-scale invasion.
According to a report published by the independent think-tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in January 2026, Russian forces suffered nearly 1.2 million battlefield casualties — including killed, wounded, and missing — between February 2022 and December 2025. CSIS estimated between 275,000 and 325,000 Russian battlefield fatalities over the same period, calling the losses unparalleled for a major power since World War II.
According to Novaya Gazeta, Russian authorities have expanded military medical infrastructure since the start of the full-scale invasion, transferring civilian medical buildings to the Defense Ministry and opening military wards in ordinary hospitals.
In the Siberian city of Omsk, local authorities closed a women's clinic in late 2025 and converted a former maternity hospital into a military veterans' hospital after extensive federally funded renovations, the outlet reported.
In Moscow, authorities reportedly repurposed the country's only hospital specializing in cystic fibrosis treatment into a facility for wounded soldiers, while a maternity hospital in Rostov-on-Don was also converted for military use in 2024.
Under Russian law, wounded servicemen can also be treated in civilian hospitals if military facilities lack capacity. According to Novaya Gazeta Europe, wounded soldiers are now being treated alongside civilian patients in many ordinary hospitals, including in St. Petersburg.
The former nurse said military patients had consumed "almost all antibiotics and medical supplies" needed for civilian treatment.
Russia's Health Ministry said in February 2025 that the country faced a shortage of 23,300 doctors and 63,600 mid-level medical personnel.
Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukrainian hospitals and medical facilities throughout the full-scale war, with the World Health Organization verifying more than 3,000 attacks on Ukraine's healthcare system since 2022.
