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Russia Denies Medical Care to Ukrainians Without Passports in Occupied Territories
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Russian occupation authorities in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions are systematically denying medical care to Ukrainian citizens who refuse to obtain Russian passports, according to a statement released by the ATESH partisan movement on March 2.
Agents operating in the temporary occupied cities of Henichesk, Skadovsk, and Melitopol reported new methods of repression targeting civilians.
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“Without a Russian passport and a mandatory medical insurance policy, access to free treatment is closed—including in emergency cases,” the partisan group stated.
Under these conditions, residents requiring life-saving medications, such as insulin or cardiovascular drugs, are denied access until they register for Russian citizenship. ATESH emphasized the scale of the issue, noting, “This is not about isolated cases, but a systemic practice that affects the entire civilian population refusing Russian documents.”
The group highlighted that this policy poses a severe threat to elderly populations and those with chronic illnesses. Paid medical care does not provide a viable alternative, as essential medications are frequently absent from local pharmacies or have been replaced by unverified Russian substitutes.
“Receiving medical care in the occupied territories has been turned into a tool of coercion to accept Russian citizenship,” the movement concluded.
This weaponization of civilian healthcare coincides with a severe medical degradation within the Russian military's own ranks in the southern operational zone. According to a separate report by ATESH, acute troop shortages on the Kherson front have forced Russian military leadership to reassign their own medical personnel to active combat duty.
Commanders of the 28th Motorized Rifle Brigade are reportedly pulling general practitioners, nurses, and paramedics from medical posts and evacuation units, deploying them directly to the trenches as infantrymen.
This tactical shift follows a sharp spike in Russian casualties driven by intense Ukrainian drone operations within a 25-kilometer zone along the front. ATESH agents reported that Ukrainian drones “appear everywhere and constantly,” generating a daily influx of wounded personnel.
Earlier, Russian forces directed artillery fire at a children's medical facility in Kherson earlier today in a deliberate strike, causing casualties among both patients and healthcare workers.
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