Hans Kluge, the head of the WHO department for Europe, described the attacks on 473 hospitals, health centers and other institutions, in which 134 people were injured, as “unacceptable”.
About 500 attacks on medical facilities have been recorded in Ukraine in the first six months of the war since the Russian invasion, killing at least 98 people, the World Health Organisation.
THE Hans Klugethe head of the WHO department for Europe, described as “unacceptable” these attacks against 473 hospitals, health centers and other institutions, in which 134 people were injured.
According to WHO’s count, of these 473 confirmed attacks, 399 hit healthcare facilities, 127 medical supplies warehouses, 69 vehicles (such as ambulances), 58 personnel, 24 patients and 12 warehouses.
Jarno Hambit, the WHO representative in Ukraine, said that “these attacks are not only a violation of international law, but also an obstacle for many people who need treatment during the war.” Hambit spoke to reporters in Geneva via video call from an underground bunker in Dnipro.
WHO Secretary-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted that Ukraine’s health system was hit, but not collapsed. “Six months of war have had devastating consequences for the health and lives of the Ukrainian population, but despite the many challenges, the health system has managed to survive and provide help where and when it is most needed,” he said in his statement. “But no health system can provide optimal services to the wartime population, which is why we continue to call on the Russian Federation to end the war,” he added.
THE Yevhenia Filipenko, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, said 19 out of 20 missiles that hit Ukraine in the past six months targeted civilian infrastructure. “Every day they target political infrastructure, trying to weaken the morale of the Ukrainian people, but the whole world saw that our morale and desire for freedom and independence is unshakable,” he told reporters. He explained that not only hospitals are affected but also apartment buildings and schools: “2,328 educational institutions were damaged and 289 were completely destroyed (…) 139 cultural heritage sites were destroyed, 15,000 apartments and 150,000 houses were damaged, destroyed or confiscated.”
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