Bombings and explosions in the war in Ukraine hit at least 14 hospitals and other health facilities in the country, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday (7). The attacks left at least nine dead, seven of whom were health workers, and 16 injured, the organization said.
In all, 16 attacks were reported, but the WHO was unable to confirm two of them, which would have taken place on the first day of the Russian invasion, on February 24. According to the report released by the WHO surveillance system, the other episodes occurred until last Thursday (3).
The entity categorized most of the attacks as the result of “violence with heavy artillery”, which includes actions involving tanks, missiles, bombs and mortars. Other offensives, in the WHO classification, involved individual weapons, such as knives, bricks, grenades and improvised explosive devices.
No information was released on the exact locations of the hospitals and equipment affected or on those responsible for the attacks. On Sunday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a Twitter post that the organization was investigating a series of attacks on Ukraine’s health infrastructure, with “multiple deaths and injuries”.
“Attacks on facilities or on healthcare workers breach medical neutrality and are violations of international humanitarian law,” Tedros said. In addition to the damage to health units and equipment, Ukraine has already suffered billions in losses since the beginning of the war. On Monday, Infrastructure Minister Oleksander Kubrabov released a balance sheet estimating the damage at US$ 10 billion (R$ 50.9 billion).
According to him, most of the damaged structures must be repaired within a year, but some damage may take twice as long. Human casualties among Ukrainian civilians also continue to grow. The most recent report by the United Nations (UN) counts at least 406 dead civilians, including 27 children. The number of deaths, however, may be even higher, as the survey only includes deaths that the UN was able to officially confirm.
