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The World Health Organization said Thursday that 73 people have been killed and 51 injured in “attacks on health care” in Ukraine since the start of the war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Thursday that the slaughter of civilians in Mariupol, the port city that has been under extended Russian attack, would rival the “heinous crimes” in the Kyiv area, where the discovery of hundreds of corpses has shocked the world into further isolating Moscow. He also cautioned that the Kremlin could use Mariupol for propaganda purposes, staging scenes to suggest Ukraine was responsible for the atrocities.
As Russia shifts the focus of its invasion from Kyiv to the country’s east, some people are cautiously returning to the capital. In recent days, at least four European nations have either returned diplomatic staff or announced plans to reopen their embassies in Kyiv. On Thursday, traffic stretched for miles around the devastated suburb of Bucha, as thousands of families attempted to head home. Kyiv’s mayor said on Telegram that the city would help residents of its suburbs “return to a peaceful life.”
The Pentagon said it was providing Kyiv with intelligence to combat the Kremlin in the east, where Ukrainian officials say Russian forces are deploying “scorched earth” tactics. The regional governor of Luhansk said all medical institutions in the province had been destroyed, and his counterpart in neighboring Kharkiv urged residents to flee. Some evacuations were blocked on Thursday after a Russian airstrike prevented the departure of some trains, Ukrainian officials said.
Here’s what to know
WHO: More than 70 have died in 103 ‘attacks on health care’
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The WHO has verified 103 attacks, with 89 affecting health facilities and more than a dozen on transportation, including ambulances, according to a news release.
The global public health body defines attacks as “any act of verbal or physical violence or obstruction or threat of violence that interferes with the availability, access and delivery of curative and/or preventive health services” on “health facilities, transport, personnel, patients, supplies and warehouses.”
“We are outraged that attacks on health care are continuing. Attacks on health care are a violation of international humanitarian law,” said WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
According to the WHO, there are 1,000 health facilities in Ukraine that are “in proximity to conflict areas or in changed areas of control.”
The news release did not provide details on the attacks, but The Washington Post previously verified nine incidents where hospitals faced direct damage as a result of a reported Russian attack, including a strike on a maternity hospital in the port city of Mariupol, where at least three people died and more than a dozen were injured.
The World Health Organization said Thursday that 73 people have been killed and 51 injured in “attacks on health care” in Ukraine since the start of the war.
The WHO has verified 103 attacks, with 89 affecting health facilities and more than a dozen on transportation, including ambulances, according to a news release.
The global public health body defines attacks as “any act of verbal or physical violence or obstruction or threat of violence that interferes with the availability, access and delivery of curative and/or preventive health services” on “health facilities, transport, personnel, patients, supplies and warehouses.”
“We are outraged that attacks on health care are continuing. Attacks on health care are a violation of international humanitarian law,” said WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
According to the WHO, there are 1,000 health facilities in Ukraine that are “in proximity to conflict areas or in changed areas of control.”
The news release did not provide details on the attacks, but The Washington Post previously verified nine incidents where hospitals faced direct damage as a result of a reported Russian attack, including a strike on a maternity hospital in the port city of Mariupol, where at least three people died and more than a dozen were injured.
The latest on Ukraine’s key battlegrounds and retaken cities
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Russian-held areas and troop movement
BELARUS
RUSSIA
POL.
Chernihiv
Separatist-
controlled
area
Kyiv
Lviv
Kharkiv
UKRAINE
Mariupol
Odessa
ROMANIA
200 MILES
Control areas as of April 7
Sources: Institute for the Study of War,
AEI’s Critical Threats Project, Post reporting
THE WASHINGTON POST
Russian-held areas
and troop movement
BELARUS
RUSSIA
Chernihiv
POLAND
Chernobyl
Kyiv
Sumy
Lviv
Kharkiv
UKRAINE
Separatist-
controlled
area
Odessa
Mariupol
Berdyansk
ROMANIA
Kherson
Sea of
Azov
Crimea
Annexed by Russia
in 2014
100 MILES
Black Sea
Control areas as of April 7
Sources: Institute for the Study of War, AEI's Critical Threats Project, Post reporting
Russian-held areas
and troop movement
BELARUS
RUSSIA
Chernihiv
POLAND
Chernobyl
Kyiv
Sumy
Lviv
Kharkiv
Separatist-
controlled
area
UKRAINE
Mykolaiv
Mariupol
Berdyansk
Kherson
ROMANIA
Odessa
Sea of
Azov
Kherson
Crimea
Annexed by Russia
in 2014
100 MILES
Black
Sea
Control areas as of April 7
Sources: Institute for the Study of War, AEI's Critical Threats Project, Post reporting
Luhansk region: All medical institutions and hospitals in the easternmost province of Ukraine were destroyed by Russian forces, governor Sergey Gaidai wrote on Telegram on Thursday, sharing photos of battered buildings, gutted hallways and shattered glass. Shelling in the area, where Ukrainian leaders have said the fiercest fighting is now happening, has devastated high-rises and blocked evacuation trains.Kharkiv region: In the neighboring region, governor Oleg Synegubov said Thursday that at least one woman was killed and 14 other people were wounded by Russian shelling. He urged residents to flee the danger, adding that evacuations from the towns of Lozova and Barvinkove are ongoing.Mariupol: Ukrainian and Russian officials’ accounts of the status of the hard-hit port city in southeastern Ukraine conflicted Thursday, with both claiming control after a weeks-long Russian siege. Some 100,000 residents are believed to be caught up in clashes as their supplies dwindle.Kyiv: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky touted diplomats’ return to the capital in his address Thursday, as Russian forces have retreated from the area. Since the withdrawal, German intelligence has shown the involvement of Russian troops in the slaying of citizens in Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv.Borodyanka: When Ukrainian authorities returned to the newly liberated community, 30 miles northwest of Kyiv, they discovered decimated buildings, rattled survivors and a growing number of bodies. During a search of two apartment buildings, 26 bodies were found under the rubble, said Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova. There was still more debris and many other structures to search, she said, calling Borodyanka “the most destroyed city in the Kyiv region.”Melitopol: Mayor Ivan Fedorov said Russians have kidnapped more than 100 people, including teachers at the State Pedagogical University, as occupying Russians seek to bring education under their control.
Russian-held areas and troop movement
BELARUS
RUSSIA
POL.
Chernihiv
Separatist-
controlled
area
Kyiv
Lviv
Kharkiv
UKRAINE
Mariupol
Odessa
ROMANIA
200 MILES
Control areas as of April 7
Sources: Institute for the Study of War,
AEI’s Critical Threats Project, Post reporting
THE WASHINGTON POST
Russian-held areas
and troop movement
BELARUS
RUSSIA
Chernihiv
POLAND
Chernobyl
Kyiv
Sumy
Lviv
Kharkiv
UKRAINE
Separatist-
controlled
area
Odessa
Mariupol
Berdyansk
ROMANIA
Kherson
Sea of
Azov
Crimea
Annexed by Russia
in 2014
100 MILES
Black Sea
Control areas as of April 7
Sources: Institute for the Study of War, AEI's Critical Threats Project, Post reporting
Russian-held areas
and troop movement
BELARUS
RUSSIA
Chernihiv
POLAND
Chernobyl
Kyiv
Sumy
Lviv
Kharkiv
Separatist-
controlled
area
UKRAINE
Mykolaiv
Mariupol
Berdyansk
Kherson
ROMANIA
Odessa
Sea of
Azov
Kherson
Crimea
Annexed by Russia
in 2014
100 MILES
Black
Sea
Control areas as of April 7
Sources: Institute for the Study of War, AEI's Critical Threats Project, Post reporting
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