A Ukrainian Hospital, One of Russia’s Favourite Targets—As Seen on This Map

A staggering statistic from Physicians for Human Rights shows that Russia has carried out a total of 1442 attacks on health care in Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. This has meant that one in 10 hospitals in the country have been directly damaged by Russian attacks.

Attacks on healthcare are not unique to hospitals; pharmacies, ambulances and healthcare workers have also been singled out by enemy fire, as shown on this interactive map. One paramedic from Donetsk Oblast recounts an event in April 2022 when they were specifically targeted,  “At first, I didn’t understand what was happening; it felt like stones were being thrown on metal; that was the sound. When the car caught fire, we realized that we were being fired at.” 

Countless stories over two and half years of war have surfaced, and the evidence is overwhelming that Russia has committed war crimes in Ukraine by targeting people and facilities that help save lives. The missile strike at the “Okhmadtdyt“ Children’s Hospital in Kyiv was the latest in a string of Russian attacks against hospitals in Ukraine.

10 attacks by Russia against Ukrainian hospital facilities

1. Mariupol Territorial Medical Association of Children and Women's Health 

   On March 9th, 2022, a children’s and maternity hospital was severely damaged by Russian air strikes. Three people were killed, and at least 17 health workers and patients, including women in labor and children, were injured by a direct Russian airstrike. Many will remember the powerful image of a young woman, Iryna Kalinina, in labor being carried out on a stretcher who later succumbed to her injuries, losing both her own life and her child. The heartwrenching photo was taken by Ukrainian photographer Evgeniy Maloletka and featured in the Academy Award Winning Documentary “20 Days in Mariupol”. 

2. Izium Central City Hospital

   On March 8th, 2022, the Izium Central City Hospital was directly hit by a Russian shell as its forces moved to occupy the city. A portion of the main hospital building, including the intensive care unit, was destroyed. The entrance to the emergency department and the electricity and water supplies to the hospital were also destroyed. Eyewitnesses report seeing patients crawling out “from under the rubble as they could.”

3. Bashtanka Multiprofile Hospital

   In April 2022, the Bashtanka Multiprofile Hospital was targeted by what experts believe was a Russian Precision Guided Cruise Missile launched from the Black Sea. Given the hospital's remote location on the edge of town, as well as the accuracy and cost of the missile used, there is no possibility the strike was anything but intentional. Visible markings delineating the medical center could be seen from the roof, which bore a red cross painted on a white canvas. The hospital director, Dr. Alla Barsehian, recounts seeing Russian reconnaissance drones fly overhead, “They saw very well; they knew that this was a medical institution,” he said, “we hoped this would somehow save us. But it turns out nothing is sacred in this war.” 

4. Makariv Multiprofile Intensive Care Hospital / Primary Care Clinic

   Between February 26th and March 7th, the hospital campus was attacked multiple times as Russian forces advanced on Kyiv. “The first shelling was on February 26th, when a machine gun was fired at the [Multiprofile Intensive Care] hospital. Then, there was a mine explosion that shattered almost 50 windows of the hospital.… The [Primary Care] clinic was damaged by bullets when the fighting was going on,” Dr Solemenko, the director of the primary care clinic, recalled. Before the full-scale invasion, the hospital had more than 400 employees, including 78 doctors, and 170 available beds. Even after the hospital was evacuated on March 7th, Russian forces continued to strike the hospital campus, resulting in the complete destruction of the primary care clinic. 

5. Maternity Ward in Vilniansk

   On November 22-23, 2022, Russians struck a maternity ward in a local hospital, killing a newborn child. While the type of rocket is unknown, the scale of the destruction for such a small hospital was immense. "Overnight, Russian monsters fired huge rockets at the small maternity ward of the Vilniansk hospital. Our hearts are overflowing with sorrow: a baby, who has just arrived in this world, has been killed," said Oleksandr Starukh, Head of the Zaphorizia Oblast Military Administration. 

6. Chernihiv Regional Children’s Hospital

   On March 16-17, the Chernihiv Regional Children’s Hospital was hit by the BM-27 Uragan multiple rocket launch system (MLRS). Before it was targeted by Russian fire, the facility could treat up to 500 children at any given time. The attack took place in the early days of the war as Russia moved to invade Kyiv. Failing to capture the capital city, Russian troops encircled Chernihiv, letting loose a barrage of unguided missiles upon the city. As attacks worsened, nearby hospitals were evacuated, and patients moved to the Children’s Hospital. According to one doctor, the staff was strict to ensure no military vehicles were nearby so as to not be mistaken as a target. Unfortunately, despite their efforts, this was not enough to stop Russia’s indiscriminate attacks.

7. Balakliia Clinical Multiprofile Intensive Care Hospital

   On April 2nd, 2022, the hospital was hit by a Russian tank as troops moved in to capture the city. As a result of the strike, all of the hospital windows were shattered, and one patient was injured as a result of the broken glass. Over the following days, doctors and staff were terrorized by enemy troops; one doctor recounts the evening of April 3rd before the staff were ordered to vacate the facility, “They threatened us, shot in the air and all over the building in the darkness.… They hit our acute care department chief on the head with a rifle butt .… They [ordered] our male doctors to lay on the floor faces down and started to shoot at the floor.… The bullets rebounded and could hit anyone.… Then, they let us out and left. But they had put the ultimatum: until morning, none of us could stay here [in the hospital].”

   They threatened us, shot in the air and all over the building in the darkness.… They hit our acute care department chief on the head with a rifle.

   Dr. Rudenko

   Balakliia Clinical Multiprofile Intensive Care Unit 

8. Trostianets City Hospital

   On March 23rd, 2022, a Russian tank fired directly at the Trostianets City Hospital. The medical facility and its doctors had continued working even under occupation. Still, when rumors of nearby Ukrainian soldiers began to circulate, Russian soldiers began to use scare tactics on the hospital, firing explosives all around it and ultimately striking the hospital itself. During its one month under Russian occupation, the hospital suffered repeated attacks; the hospital’s operating room was burned, the gynecology, maternity, and surgical wards were damaged, the roof of the infectious disease department was fully destroyed, and the exterior walls of the hospital were destroyed by shelling. The severity of the damage meant that the hospital was no longer functional after de-occupation. 

9. Beryslav Hospital

   On October 5th, 2023, a Russian rocket hit a hospital in Beryslav, Kherson Oblast, destroying the top floor of the building and injuring two civilians as well as nearby emergency vehicles. One witness, a nurse who worked at the location, describes hiding during the attack and emerging from the basement covered in rubble. 

10. Hospital in Kherson City

    On June 18-19, 2024, Russia targeted a hospital in Kherson Oblast with 3 Grad Rockets. The attack resulted in the destruction of a garage and two ambulances and injured one person. 

Overview of Russian attacks across Ukraine

The hospitals mentioned above paint just a small picture of what is a much larger story of Russia’s crimes. Reports show that an average of 4 to 5 hospitals were attacked daily within the first two months of the war. Data from the first 12 months of the invasion shows the following staggering statistics:

• 845 Attacks on Healthcare Infrastructure 

• 742 Attacks on Hospitals or Clinics 

• 275 Attacks on Healthcare Workers 

• 101 Attacks on Hospital Utilities 

• 79 Attacks on Child Healthcare 

• 60 Attacks on Maternal Healthcare 

The evidence against Russia is overwhelming should the day come that it is tried in an international court. Unfortunately, the targeting of healthcare facilities is a tactic it has used and gotten away with before. Evidence of similar atrocities took place at the hands of Russian forces in both Chechnya and Syria. In the wake of Monday's horrific bombing of the Ohmatdyt Children’s Hospital in Kyiv, the world needs to remember that this is not an isolated incident, nor was it an accident. 

War crimes & crimes against humanity explained

Deliberately striking civilian hospitals is considered a war crime. When it is carried out as part of a larger policy, as Russia has done, it is considered a crime against humanity. The following war crimes relate to the targeting of hospitals as defined by the United Nations:

1. Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities;

2. Intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects, that is, objects which are not military objectives;

3. Intentionally directing attacks against personnel, installations, material, units or vehicles involved in a humanitarian assistance or peacekeeping mission in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, as long as they are entitled to the protection given to civilians or civilian objects under the international law of armed conflict;

While crimes against humanity have not been so expressly defined, the terms have been outlined under something called the Rome Statute. According to the statute, the following can be applied to Russia’s targeting of hospitals: 

(Article 1.) For the purpose of this Statute, ‘crime against humanity’ means any of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack:

1. (Article 1. A) Murder

2. (Article 1. K) Other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally cause great suffering or serious injury to the body or to mental or physical health.

By the use of a precision-guided missile, Russia shows knowledge of its target, and in this case, it was the Ohmatdyt Children’s Hospital. The attacks resulted in what is defined in articles 1.A and 1. K as the murder of civilians as well as causing great suffering. Photos of children being carried out in the arms of adults with IV drips still attached to their bodies leave no doubt there will be lasting mental and physical injury.