After attack on Okhmatdyt, doctors expect death toll to rise due to Russian attacks on medical facilities – NYT

Influential American newspaper The New York Times has written that the Russian missile strike on 8 July on the Okhmatdyt Children's Specialised Hospital in Kyiv is indicative of the increasing number of deadly attacks on medical facilities, vehicles and workers in Ukraine this year. The New York Times has referred to World Health Organisation (WHO) forecasts, according to which more Ukrainians may die in 2024 as a result of Russian attacks on medical institutions.

Source: The New York Times

Details: The New York Times noted that before the attack on Okhmatdyt, WHO documented 18 deaths and 81 injuries caused by over 175 attacks on Ukrainian healthcare infrastructure in the first half of 2024. The organisation also recorded 44 attacks on medical transport vehicles within this period.

The organisation counted 22 deaths and 117 injuries from 350 such attacks during 2023, with 45 of them specifically targeting medical transport vehicles like ambulances. Other organisations report even higher numbers of casualties.

The New York Times notes that attacks on civilian hospitals are prohibited by Article 18 of the Geneva Convention, ratified by UN member states after World War II. Article 20 of the convention says all warring parties must protect medical personnel.

However, experts say that Russia has repeatedly attacked Ukrainian healthcare infrastructure as part of a campaign that some consider a war crime.

The Russian Defence Ministry, in its statement on social media on Monday, denied deliberately targeting civilian facilities in Ukraine.

However, a video recording of the attack, filmed by a Kyiv resident and confirmed by The New York Times, shows a missile moving downward at high speed before hitting the hospital.

Christian De Vos, a lawyer and the director of research and investigations at New York's Physicians for Human Rights, stated that the world has never seen a prosecution in an international court where an attack on healthcare infrastructure was the main focus of the case.

Experts noted that the Russian attack targeted the most vulnerable population groups and added strain to the Ukrainian healthcare system, which is already on the brink of exhaustion.

"Under international humanitarian law, hospitals and health care facilities are protected precisely because civilians are seeking care. These are sites that are meant to ensure the protection of the civilian population and spare them from the horrors of war," De Vos said.

WHO considers an attack on healthcare infrastructure as any act or threat of violence that hinders medical services’ availability, access or delivery. Its data includes both confirmed and likely attacks, which the organisation identifies as attacks with one eyewitness account or two secondary testimonies confirmed by a WHO partner.

Experts say the number of attacks on hospitals and healthcare workers in conflicts worldwide is rising. It has come as no surprise to some emergency workers in Ukraine.

"We are constantly having to review where we are working and pull back from areas that become impossible," emphasised Christopher Stokes, the emergency coordinator for Doctors Without Borders in Ukraine. The war there has been ongoing for more than two years.

Stokes noted that earlier this year, the organisation tried to set up an emergency department in Kherson Oblast, but the hospital continued to be bombarded. He said that after the sixth attack, it was decided to abandon the attempt.

Experts stressed that some hospitals were trying to take measures by covering windows with sandbags and moving patients and operating rooms to lower floors. Because of the strikes, higher floors are considered too risky.

"These hospitals are not sanctuaries where you can feel safe, especially patients," Stokes said.

Uliana Poltavets, emergency response coordinator at Physicians for Human Rights, has been documenting attacks on healthcare infrastructure and says she heard the strike in Kyiv on 8 July. She said it was part of a "pattern of violence" that has been repeated in Ukraine since the full-scale war broke out in February 2022. 

"The full-scale invasion began with an attack on a maternity home in Mariupol," she said.

Background:

• The Russians launched a strike on the Okhmatdyt National Children's Specialised Hospital in Kyiv on 8 July. One of the buildings was destroyed and rescue operations are ongoing.
• The Kyiv authorities reported that two adults had been killed and 16 injured, including seven children, as of 14:30 on 8 July.
• The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) has defined Russia's attack on the Okhmatdyt National Children's Specialised Hospital in Kyiv as a war crime and initiated criminal proceedings into the matter. Early reports from SSU investigators indicate the Russians used a Kh-101 air-launched cruise missile to attack the medical facility.

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