Care amid crisis
One year since conflict escalated in Ukraine, MSF staff are providing lifesaving medical care to patients as attacks on civilians continue.
Ukraine 2022 © MSF
As the war in Ukraine escalates, our teams are responding to a deepening humanitarian crisis.
KYIV/NEW YORK, November 27, 2023—Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) staff directly witnessed two deadly attacks on Ukrainian hospitals this month, underlining the unacceptable violence against health care workers, patients and medical facilities in areas close to the front lines of the ongoing war with Russia.
As full-scale war erupted in Ukraine, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) scaled up activities to meet the many health needs—supporting health facilities, running mobile clinics, and operating a specially designed medical train.
After eight years of low-intensity conflict in eastern Ukraine, Russian forces launched an all-out military assault in 2022, causing thousands of civilian casualties and extensive damage to energy and other key infrastructure, particularly in the country’s eastern regions. Many homes were destroyed and public services were severely disrupted, including health care, water and power supplies.
By the end of 2022, 6.5 million people were internally displaced within Ukraine, and about eight million had fled the country.
Before the war escalated, MSF’s regular programs in Ukraine included providing health care and mental health services to people affected by hostilities in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Based in Bakhmut and Mariupol, our teams ran mobile clinics and supplied facilities with drugs and equipment. We also offered lifesaving care for tuberculosis (TB) patients and supported the implementation of an innovative TB treatment regimen in Zhytomyr. OnFebruary 24, 2022, these regular programs were suspended and/or reoriented to meet emerging needs in Ukraine and nearby countries.
In the early days following the escalation of the war, hospitals were in crucial need of medical supplies. We established supply lines to health facilities and displaced people in Severodonetsk, Luhansk region, Mariupol, Donetsk region, Dnipro, and the capital city of Kyiv for the delivery of drugs, medical materials and other essential items.
90,800
outpatient consultations
13,600
individual mental health consultations
3,500
patients evacuated by medical train
Learn about MSF’s journalistic roots and our commitment to bear witness and speak out about the experiences of the people we treat.
Learn about MSF’s journalistic roots and our commitment to bear witness and speak out about the experiences of the people we treat.