By Adeleye Kunle
Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, there have been at least 550 attacks on vital health facilities in the country, the World Health Organization’s Surveillance System for Attacks on Health Care estimates.
The organization on Thursday, September 29 reported that “health care facilities were damaged 469 times, ambulances were targeted in 75 cases and at least 144 attacks affected crucial medical supplies.”
The WHO also estimated that attacks on health services led to at least 100 deaths and 129 injuries.
The Kremlin has previously denied that it targets civilian infrastructure like hospitals, schools and apartment buildings but WHO says that isn’t the case.
“This is not the first time when we see pathetic cries about so-called atrocities committed by the Russian armed forces,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said back in March amid reports the Russian military bombed a hospital in Mariupol.
“Our delegation presented facts at a meeting of the U.N. Security Council proving that the maternity hospital had long been seized by fighters of the Azov battalion and other radicals. They kicked all patients, all nurses, and all service personnel out.” it added
