Ukraine’s healthcare system has come under unprecedented attack, as Russian forces continue to target medical facilities, personnel and emergency response vehicles in what international observers have dubbed an aggressive campaign targeting civilian infrastructure.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Health issued a startling statement this week detailing that more than 1,500 healthcare facilities had been damaged or destroyed since full-scale invasion began in February 2022, with 2025 witnessing record attacks during just its first half year alone. Hospitals, maternity wards, and ambulances have all been regularly targeted with missile and drone attacks.
“They follow ambulances knowingly. They know exactly where they’re headed and stay close behind,” according to Dr. Olena Lys, an emergency physician from Kharkiv. “Before this conflict began, we feared being near the frontline; now even helping injured civilians becomes a target.”
Since the outbreak of war in Ukraine, over 1,600 attacks on healthcare have been verified by WHO as an act of aggression on its medical system – making this attack the biggest assault ever witnessed in modern history. WHO noted that such strikes violate international humanitarian law and may constitute war crimes under Geneva Conventions.
“These attacks are part of a calculated strategy designed to weaken Ukraine’s civilian population,” according to WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris. Targeting physicians, hospitals and ambulances as part of this offensive is unacceptable and illegal.
Recent examples include an attack on a children’s hospital in Dnipro on July 22 that left five dead and over two dozen wounded – medical staff members as well as young patients – along with three paramedics killed. Just days later, an ambulance convoy in Zaporizhzhia evacuated civilians from a bombed-out residential area when it was hit and three paramedics died during its evacuation efforts;
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has strongly condemned Russia’s attacks, calling them acts of terrorism against hospitals, doctors, and children. No civilized state can ignore what is taking place to our hospitals, doctors, and children,” Zelenskyy stated in his televised address.
Russia has denied attacking civilian infrastructure, citing that their strikes target only military facilities or weapons depots that lie hidden within urban areas. Yet independent groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have documented repeated cases of direct hits on medical sites far removed from combat zones.
Ukrainian health officials assert that the damage has significantly reduced access to healthcare for millions. Doctors now perform surgeries in basements and underground shelters in front-line regions; mobile clinics and field hospitals have been deployed as replacement facilities, yet supply chains remain vulnerable.
Dr. Dmytro Kulish, a surgeon in Mykolaiv said, “We treat patients often without anesthetics – sometimes without even light!” Not only are we healing wounds with our hands bared; rather we hold together healthcare systems by healing with them!
As the war continues on with no definitive end in sight, Ukrainian officials and international health advocates are demanding accountability and immediate humanitarian aid for victims of this conflict. On the ground however, medics continue to work under threat of rocket fire; risking their lives in one of Ukraine’s most hazardous professions today.