The ruins of war in Ukraine
The Ukrainian Ministry of Health has accused Russian forces of destroying 7 hospitals since the beginning of the war on Ukraine, while all health care facilities in the country are still operating despite the losses.
And the “Washington Post” newspaper revealed that the Russian bombing targeted nine health facilities across Ukraine, including the maternity hospital in Mariupol, the besieged city on the Sea of Azov.
The American newspaper documented the nine incidents following it analyzed more than 500 videos and photos, reviewed the statements of Ukrainian officials, and spoke to Ayyad witnesses and health center employees.
Officials said that three of the accidents that targeted health facilities resulted in deaths, while three other accidents targeted health facilities for women and children.
In one of the deadliest incidents, Russian forces fired a ballistic missile carrying a cluster munition that hit the central hospital in the town of Vohlidar in the breakaway Donetsk region on February 24, according to clips obtained and analyzed in the Human Rights Watch report.
The munition struck just outside the hospital, killing four and wounding 10 civilians, six of whom were health care workers.
“Hospitals and medical facilities are protected by international humanitarian law,” ICRC spokesman Jason Strazioso said in an email.
A maternity hospital in Mariupol was subjected to Russian bombing, killing at least three people and wounding 17, on March 9.
In addition to the strikes in Vohlidar and Mariupol, three people were killed following an attack on an intensive care hospital in Vasilievka, according to officials.
The official channel of the Zaporizhzhya Regional Military Administration reported on Telegram that a medical facility in the southeastern city of Vasilievka was bombed by Russian missiles on March 1, killing three people and wounding four others.
On February 27, the Russians bombed the ear, nose and throat department building of a hospital in Volnovaka, a small city in the breakaway Donetsk region, according to the Ukrainian parliament’s Telegram channel.
