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Russia Secretly Converts Maternity Wards Into Military Hospitals Amid Growing Battlefield Losses
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The Russian government is increasingly repurposing civilian healthcare facilities, including maternity wards, to treat a massive influx of wounded soldiers from the war in Ukraine, according to an investigation by independent outlet Vot-tak, posted on September 10.
This has led to secret military wards and severely degraded care for ordinary citizens.
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The collapse of the civilian healthcare system is a consequence of astronomical battlefield attrition suffered by the Russian army in Ukraine. According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Russia’s total military personnel losses—both killed and wounded—surpassed 1.5 million by September 2026. This toll is 100 times greater than Soviet losses during the decade-long war in Afghanistan.
In Rostov-on-Don, Maternity Hospital No. 5 was abruptly converted into a military hospital, with pregnant women discharged early or forced to seek care in neighboring cities, Vot-tak wrote. A similar conversion occurred at Maternity Hospital No. 5 in Omsk, where the facility was transformed into a veterans' hospital despite protests from local medical staff and residents.
With the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) estimating over 611,000 Russian casualties since the full-scale invasion began, the Ministry of Defense’s roughly 58,000 military hospital beds are overwhelmed. Consequently, Vot-tak found that civilian hospitals in St. Petersburg, the Yaroslavl region, and Siberia have established highly classified military wings.
Medical staff in these units are forced to sign non-disclosure agreements, access is restricted by magnetic keycards, and wounded personnel are treated under assigned numbers rather than their names.
The shift has drastically impacted civilian medical access. A recent government decree mandates that soldiers receive priority, queue-jumping outpatient care at civilian clinics. To support this, at least 11 Russian regions have diverted over 3.2 billion rubles ($37.9 million) toward military treatment in civilian facilities, according to the outlet’s analysis.
Simultaneously, 19 regions are cutting their overall public healthcare budgets for 2026, with Vot-tak noting that some areas are slashing funding for civilian clinics and hospitals by up to 39%.
The influx of combatants has also introduced violence into civilian medical settings. Doctors and nurses told Vot-tak that soldiers frequently drink, steal equipment, and initiate brawls with both staff and civilian patients.
In response to the escalating conflicts, the Russian Ministry of Health issued internal guidelines instructing doctors to handle aggressive military patients by speaking softly “as if telling a fairy tale,” hiding scissors or glass objects during appointments, and offering “imaginary confessions of guilt” during disputes.
The mounting number of severely wounded soldiers has also prompted the Kremlin to funnel disabled veterans directly into the domestic workforce.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin had previously ordered government ministries and corporate executives to place returning combatants, including hundreds of thousands with permanent disabilities or amputations, into the defense-industrial complex to offset severe labor shortages and sustain production.
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-13e540e98f8ae28670519f87ad54cc89.jpeg "A fire is seen in Volgograd, Russia, following an overnight missile and drone attack on September 11, 2026. (Source: Exilenova+)")
-1cd789b39ae9e0196ab823ea71211903.png "Damage to gas station in Kyiv following a Russian drone strike on September 11, 2026. (Source: Kyiv INFO/Telegram)")