Russian Federation Launches 707 Attacks on Ukraine’s Healthcare System

A total of 707 brutal attacks on hospitals, other healthcare infrastructure and workers seriously damaged Ukraine’s healthcare system over the year of the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion. This is stated in the research of the organisations eyeWitness to Atrocities, Insecurity Insight, Physicians for Human Rights, Media Initiative for Human Rights, and the Ukrainian Healthcare Centre.

According to the document, an average of at least two attacks on the healthcare system took place every day between 24 February and 31 December 2022, including bombings of hospitals, torture of healthcare workers, and strikes on ambulances.

Report’s key numbers:

• As a result of 292 attacks, 218 hospitals and outpatient facilities were damaged or completely destroyed
• 65 attacks on ambulances were recorded
• 181 attacks on other healthcare infrastructure (for example, pharmacies, blood transfusion centers, dental clinics, laboratories, etc.)
• 86 attacks on healthcare workers, as a result of which at least 62 workers were killed and 52 more were injured. Many other workers were threatened, illegally imprisoned, taken hostage and forced to work under Russian occupation
• Every tenth healthcare facility has been damaged by attacks. The greatest destruction was recorded in the eastern regions: Kharkiv, Donetsk, Luhansk, as well as in Kherson and Kyiv regions
• In Mariupol, 8 out of 10 facilities where medical services had been provided were damaged or destroyed
• In 10 regions, 48 hospitals were shelled multiple times, highlighting not only the indiscriminate nature of the attacks but also the possibility of deliberate strikes

“Russia’s cruel strategy deliberately mixes civilian and military targets in the war. The Russians are destroying hospitals, schools, and energy infrastructure to achieve military goals. Russia used this murderous tactic before in Chechnya and Syria but has not borne any responsibility for it. If Russia evades punishment even now, we will see many more destroyed hospitals that will be used as a means of waging war in the future,” said Pavlo Kovtoniuk, co-author of the report, co-founder of the Ukrainian Healthcare Centre.

Natalia Tolub