The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Ukraine: health care attacks continue as battleground moves east
As the focus of the war in Ukraine shifts to the east of the country, nearly seven weeks since the Russian invasion, health care facilities have continued to come under attack, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.
“As of yesterday, WHO has verified 108 incidents of attacks on health care in Ukraine,” said WHO spokesperson Bhanu Bhatnagar. “This could range from attacks on health facilities and personnel, transport like ambulances, supplies and warehouses. At least 72 people have been killed and 51 people injured in those attacks.”
Speaking from Lviv in western Ukraine, Mr. Bhatnagar noted that “roughly 300 health facilities are in conflict areas at this time and about 1,000 health facilities are in changed areas of control”.
Since Russian forces entered Ukraine on 24 February, WHO has delivered 216 tonnes of emergency and medical supplies and equipment to the country, via Lviv. More than half of that amount has reached the intended destination, mostly in the east and north of the country, where needs are greatest.
“Over the coming days, WHO will be providing 15 generators to hospitals across Ukraine that have limited or no power supply,” Mr. Bhatnagar continued. “The generators are destined for oblasts in the east, in the south and in the north, and we have set aside two generators for hospitals in Mariupol for delivery as soon as we can get in.”
In addition to pursuing all efforts to re-open operations in Kyiv, the WHO spokesperson explained that the UN agency also wanted to expand its strategic operational base in Dnipro, in the central-eastern part of the country, although this “still remains uncertain”, he said.
WHO also plans to deliver 20 ambulances to the Ukrainian Ministry of Health this week and it is also helping the authorities to set up field hospitals to provide basic healthcare services where health infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed.
The UN agency has also evacuated those in need of immediate medical treatment to the Polish border town of Korczowa, where the Polish government has set up a health facility to treat up to 200 people.
ends
STORY: Ukraine Health Care Attacks – WHO
TRT: 1 min 21s
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 12 April 2022 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- Exterior wide shot, flag alley, UN Geneva.
- Wide shot, UN Geneva Press room.
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH): Bhanu Bhatnagar (Zoom from Lviv), spokesperson, WHO: “Roughly 300 health facilities are in conflict areas at this time and about 1,000 health facilities are in changed areas of control.”
- Close-up, TV camera lens and viewfinder and large-screen TV to rear, showing podium speaker and external speaker.
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH): Bhanu Bhatnagar (Zoom from Lviv), spokesperson, WHO: “As of yesterday, WHO has verified 108 incidents of attacks on health care in Ukraine; this could range from attacks on health facilities and personnel, transport like ambulances, supplies and warehouses. At least 72 people have been killed and 51 people injured in those attacks.”
- Medium shot, participant sitting in front of laptop.
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH): Bhanu Bhatnagar (Zoom from Lviv), spokesperson, WHO: “Over the coming days, WHO will be providing 15 generators to hospitals across Ukraine that have limited or no power supply. The generators are destined for oblasts in the east, in the south and in the north, and we have set aside two generators for hospitals in Mariupol for delivery as soon as we can get in.”
- Medium shot, journalists/participants seated, one checking her phone, TV camera on tripod to rear and large screen TV.
- Medium shot, participant seated, looking at laptop screen.
- Wide shot, journalists/participants seated, with TV camera and lighting tripods in view, and large-screen TV showing speakers.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN rights chief concerned by upheld convictions of Cambodian activists.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR , OHCHR
Middle East crisis puts aid, food, fuel further out of reach for millions already struggling – UN agencies
As the Middle East crisis continues the humanitarian fallout is worsening, with aid route disruptions and food and fuel price hikes wrecking the lives and rights of the most vulnerable, UN agencies warned on Friday.
1
1
2
Edited News | UNMAS
Demining experts from around the world have been sharing their collective shock at the widespread and growing threat from unexploded ordnance, the new head of the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) said on Wednesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The UN Human Rights Office in Syria conducted a 5-day visit to the northeast of the country where they received accounts of human rights violations and abuses.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF
Sudan: ‘History repeating itself’ for Darfur’s children - UNICEF
Mass atrocities in Sudan’s Darfur 20 years ago reverberated as far as Hollywood, but today, a new generation of children faces attacks, hunger and displacement in an emergency largely ignored by the outside world, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Tuesday.
1
1
Edited News | WHO , UNMAS
Desperate and dangerous conditions in Gaza continue to hamper recovery efforts for the wartorn enclave's people, the UN health agency said on Friday, while demining experts warned that they’ve “barely scratched the surface” in assessing the level of contamination of unexploded ordnance.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News
The continued support of UN Member States to Lebanon will be “indispensable” to boost the country’s national armed forces and provide humanitarian assistance with more than one million people still uprooted by the Middle East war, the UN's peacekeeping chief said on Wednesday.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | UNECE
Middle East war: After oil and gas shortages, concerns grow over critical minerals crunch
The shipping crisis in the Strait of Hormuz caused by war in the Middle East has exposed a new threat: a looming shortage of strategic minerals needed to drive economies all over the world and a race by countries to obtain them.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM
Millions of desperate Sudanese return home amid dire conditions as war rages – IOM
Three years into the devastating conflict in Sudan, nearly four million displaced people have returned to their places of origin across the country, only to face “another struggle for survival”, the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNESCO
UNESCO protects cultural sites in war-torn Middle East, confirming damage to key heritage.
1
1
1
Edited News | UN WOMEN
The war in Gaza has inflicted a far higher toll on women and girls than in previous conflicts in the Palestinian enclave, with more than 38,000 killed by Israeli air bombardment and land military operations since Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel sparked the war in October 2023, UN Women said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR
In 2025, nearly 900 Rohingya refugees were reported missing or dead in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal, making it the deadliest year on record in South and Southeast Asia, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Friday.