Last night in Ukraine, Kyiv faced yet another wave of massive bombardment, in which a missile hit a residential building. Twelve people have been confirmed killed, and over 70 injured—among them, six children. Many remain hospitalized with life-threatening injuries, while emergency services are still searching through the rubble for survivors.
The strikes follow devastating attacks in the Dnipro region and in Kryvyi Rih, which all resulted in mass casualties. The massive use of force employed by Russian forces across Ukraine is relentless. Hospitals, residential buildings, humanitarian workers, and patients are not spared; and with the use of drones and long-range missiles, no one in Ukraine is safe.
Kyiv is home to the Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) coordination office for medical and humanitarian programs in Ukraine, and MSF teams live and work in the city.
“Right now, our staff—like millions of others—face almost nightly bombing raids,” said Thomas Marchese, MSF's program director in Ukraine. “Last night some of our colleagues spent the night in metro stations; others had no choice but to wake their children and shelter at home as best they could, while explosions shook the ground and rattled windows. No one is safe, people are exhausted, and many live in fear.”
Attacks are a matter of daily life in Ukraine
This latest attack in Kyiv continues a pattern of bombardments in Ukraine in which attacks on residential buildings, hospitals, and schools occur daily. On April 5, MSF ambulance teams responded to a strike in Kryvyi Rih, where 20 people were killed, including nine children. One survivor referred by MSF paramedics was just 7 years old and suffered a fractured hip, hemorrhagic shock, and shrapnel wounds.
On April 23, a drone strike by Russian forces hit a bus in Marhanets, located in the Dnipro region, and reportedly killed nine people and wounded 50. MSF ambulance teams supported the Ministry of Health in the mass casualty plan, referring patients suffering from significant blood loss and shrapnel wounds.
Around 2,000 medical facilities have been damaged or destroyed since the war in Ukraine escalated in 2022. In recent months, hospitals across the country have faced multiple mass casualty events, and have even become targets, particularly in areas near the front line, where the health system is already under immense pressure.
“The scale of attacks people endure are huge,” said Marchese. “Our mobile clinics have seen a rise in cases of heart attacks and strokes—conditions directly linked to prolonged stress. In Ukraine, no part of daily life is untouched by the war. People can be hit while commuting, buying bread, or dropping off their children at kindergarten. There’s no warning, no safe place—just seconds between normal life and extreme violence. Civilians must never be targets.”
MSF teams respond after a bus was hit in Marhanets, located in the Dnipropetrovsk region, on April 23. Ukraine 2025 © MSF
MSF teams respond to emergency needs
MSF paramedical teams are currently supporting emergency responses in the Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, and Mykolaiv regions, while surgical teams continue to provide lifesaving care in hospitals close to active conflict areas. Rehabilitation care, including physiotherapy and mental health care, continue in Cherkasy and Odesa, while in Vinnytsia the mental health team provides treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) caused by the war.
Among medical facilities in Ukraine, one aspect remains constant: a never-ending influx of wounded patients.
