Russia Ukraine War: Russian troops have destroyed or damaged nearly 400 healthcare institutions: hospitals, maternity wards, outpatient clinics, Zelensky claimed.
Kyiv:
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has devastated hundreds of hospitals and other institutions and left doctors without drugs to tackle cancer or the ability to perform surgery, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday.
Zelenskiy, in a video address to a medical charity group, said many places lacked even basic antibiotics in eastern and southern Ukraine, the focal points of the fighting.
“If you consider just medical infrastructure, as of today Russian troops have destroyed or damaged nearly 400 healthcare institutions: hospitals, maternity wards, outpatient clinics,” he told the gathering.
In areas occupied by Russian forces, he said, the situation was catastrophic.
“This amounts to a complete lack of medication for cancer patients. It means extreme difficulties or a complete lack of insulin for diabetes. For is impossible to carry out surgery. It even means, quite simply, a lack of antibiotics.”
The Kremlin says it targets only military or strategic sites.
Russia: Hospitals Destroyed
In one of the most widely denounced acts of the war, a maternity hospital was all but destroyed on March 9 in the city of Mariupol.
Russia’s actions in Ukraine are described as a “special operation” aimed at disarming Ukraine and protecting it from fascists. The allegations of fascism are unfounded, according to Ukraine and the West, and the war is an unprovoked act of aggression. Since the invasion began, more than 5 million Ukrainians have gone abroad.
After failing to conquer Kyiv, Russia has concentrated its firepower on Ukraine’s east and south. The new front aims to restrict Ukraine’s access to the Black Sea. Which is critical for food and metal exports, as well as link Russian-controlled territory in the east to Crimea. Which Moscow seized in 2014.