During the illegal[1] Russian invasion of Ukraine Russia has repeatedly attacked Ukrainian medical facilities, hospitals, clinics, and ambulances, and health workers. The Ministry of Defense of the United Kingdom stated that Russia was prioritizing attacks on Ukrainian medical facilities as a method of warfare, often striking these with Iranian-made drones.[2]

Overview

As of 21 December 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported 1,422 attacks on health care reported by their 'Surveillance System for Attacks on Health Care' (SSA) tool.[3]

Milestones

Between February 24 and March 21, 2022, sixty-four medical facilities and their personnel were targeted by Russian forces in Ukraine, the WHO reported.[4]

By March 25, 2022, The facilities were being hit at rate of two to three a day. Mostly with heavy weapons.[5]

By April 8, 2022, there were 91 attacks confirmed by the WHO, averaging 2 attacks on hospitals, ambulances or medical supply depots per day.[6]

By November 21, 2022, there were at least 703 attacks on Ukrainian healthcare facilities with 144 such facilities completely destroyed by Russia.[7]

By the end of 2022, nearly one in ten Ukrainian hospitals had been damaged.[8][9]

By May 30th, 2023, the WHO had verified 1,000 attacks, the highest number ever recorded.[10] Other monitoring groups have also marked the milestone 1000th attack.[11] in what constitutes deliberate instances of war crimes on a massive scale.[12]

Events

A deadly attack occurred on the first day of the war, February 24, 2022, at the Central City Hospital in Vuhledar when a Russian ballistic missile full of cluster munitions fell just outside of the hospital, killing four and injuring ten.[13]

The most widely covered attack was the bombing of the Mariupol maternity hospital.[13]

On 23 November 2022 Russian missile strikes destroyed a maternity ward in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, in the town of Vilnyansk, killing a newborn baby.[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "International Court orders Russia to 'immediately suspend' military operations in Ukraine | UN News". news.un.org. 2022-03-16. Retrieved 2024-01-10.
  2. 1 2 "Zaporizhzhia strike kills newborn baby at Ukraine hospital". BBC News. 23 November 2022.
  3. ↑ "Situation reports (Ukraine-specific)". www.who.int. Retrieved 2023-10-18.
  4. ↑ "WHO Confirms Attacks on Ukraine Healthcare Facilities". WSJ. Archived from the original on March 6, 2022. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
  5. ↑ Taylor, Luke (2022-03-25). "Russian forces are increasingly targeting Ukrainian healthcare facilities, says WHO". BMJ. 376: o801. doi:10.1136/bmj.o801. ISSN 1756-1833. PMID 35338043. S2CID 247631261.
  6. ↑ Sanders IV, Lewis; Felden, Esther; Theise, Eugen (8 April 2022). "How Russia could get away with attacks on Ukraine hospitals". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  7. ↑ "Russian Airstrikes in Ukraine: The 'Largest Attack' on Health Care in Europe Since World War II, Says WHO - Health Policy Watch". 21 November 2022.
  8. ↑ "Nearly one in every 10 hospitals in Ukraine have been damaged by attacks since Russia's invasion - Ukraine | ReliefWeb". reliefweb.int. 2023-02-28. Retrieved 2023-11-18.
  9. ↑ Staff, C. N. N. (2023-02-21). "Report: Nearly one in every 10 hospitals in Ukraine have been damaged by attacks since Russia's invasion". CNN. Retrieved 2024-01-10.
  10. ↑ "WHO records more than 1000 attacks on health care in Ukraine over the past 15 months of full-scale war". www.who.int. Retrieved 2023-11-18.
  11. ↑ Short, Kevin (2023-08-10). "A Horrific Milestone: More Than 1,000 Attacks on Health Care in Ukraine Since Russia's Full-scale Invasion". PHR. Retrieved 2023-11-18.
  12. ↑ "Putin is Targeting Ukrainian Hospitals. That's a War Crime".
  13. 1 2 "Russian attacks hit at least 9 Ukrainian medical facilities, visual evidence shows". Washington Post. 2022-03-12. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
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