Ukraine

As of June 1, 2022, there are approximately 140 international Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) staff and 470 Ukrainian staff working across Ukraine, with more joining the team every day. They work as medical staff (surgeons, doctors, nurses); psychologists; logistics and administration; and management. We currently have teams present in Bila Tserkva, Dnipro, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kharkiv, Kropyvnytskyi, Kryvyi Rih, Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Poltava, Pokrovsk, Uzhhorod, Vinnytsia, Zaporizhzhia, and Zhytomyr.

Since February 24, MSF has brought more than 800 metric tons of medical and relief supplies into Ukraine to support hospitals, health centers, and displaced people.

Medical evacuation trains

On April 1, 2022, MSF completed its first medical train referral, taking nine patients who had been wounded in or near the besieged city of Mariupol from hospitals in Zaporizhzhia to hospitals in Lviv. They were transported on a two-carriage train equipped as a basic hospital ward, accompanied by a team of nine MSF medical staff.

We are now using a larger and more highly medicalized train. So far, we have completed 22 referral trips, mostly taking patients from hospitals close to front lines of the war in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. We have also evacuated seriously wounded patients from Kharkiv and babies and children from an orphanage in Zaporizhzhia. A total of 594 hospital patients have been medically evacuated to date, along with their family members, in addition to 78 orphans. Further medical referrals are planned as urgent requests from hospitals in the east continue.

Kyiv

In Kyiv we are running a telephone hotline for survivors of sexual violence and domestic violence, offering confidential consultations and delivery of medications to prevent HIV, sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancy in Kyiv and Chernihiv oblasts. We are also following up with more than 1,000 patients with noncommunicable diseases, mainly elderly and vulnerable individuals. Volunteers help us deliver medications to patients’ homes.  

On the outskirts of Kyiv, our teams have been working alongside Ukrainian doctors to restart medical care in Hostomel after it was devastated by weeks of intensive fighting. We are helping to provide primary health care as well as mental health care to address the psychological consequences of the war.

In the early days of the war an MSF surgical team conducted mass casualty training and hands-on war surgery training in a pediatric hospital and provided mass casualty training for five other hospitals. In Bila Tserkva, about 50 miles south of Kyiv, we have identified a hospital that specializes in surgery where an MSF team is leading a two-day training on managing a mass influx of casualties. We continue to donate medical supplies to health facilities in Kyiv oblast.

Fastiv

MSF is focusing on elderly and internally displaced people who suffer from chronic diseases, through mobile clinics and home-based care in Fastiv, Makariv and Borodianka. We also provide training to local health facilities. 

Kropyvnytskyi

An MSF team is donating medical supplies, carrying out trainings for health workers and first responders, distributing relief items to displaced people and providing mental health consultations. We have started supporting a maternity hospital to make health services more accessible for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence by providing transportation and paying for medications.

Kryvyi Rih

An MSF team based in Kryvyi Rih is helping a hospital near the southern front line to develop its emergency room and increase its capacity for responding to mass casualties. The team also delivered donations to areas of the Kherson region that were recently retaken by the Ukrainian armed forces.

Mykolaiv and Odesa

To help Ukrainian health facilities cope with a potential influx of injured people, MSF teams have trained hundreds of medical doctors and nurses to triage patients according to the severity of their injuries. This step is essential to ensure that patients are treated appropriately in an emergency situation.

In Mykolaiv MSF is also funding the work of local volunteers who bring medical and logistical equipment in and out of the besieged city.

Chernihiv

We are running mobile clinics in several villages in Chernihiv oblast, providing outpatient consultations, treatment for noncommunicable diseases, and mental health consultations. We continue to donate medical supplies to health facilities and are working to reach patients in Chernihiv oblast through our hotline in Kyiv for victims of sexual and gender-based violence. 

Kharkiv

In Kharkiv we have phased out most of our mobile clinics in metro stations now that many people are no longer sheltering there. We have started running mobile clinics in other areas of the city. We recently donated medical devices to Chuhuiv General Hospital and relief items to a dormitory and a sanitorium that are hosting displaced people.

Outside the city, we are conducting assessments and running mobile clinics in remote villages in Kharkiv oblast. We continue to work with volunteer networks to reach people in need, donating food and relief items to selected groups with a focus on villages outside the city. We are also continuing to make donations of medical supplies to small health posts and facilities in remote villages.

We recently launched a new hotline for Kharkiv city and oblast to respond to ongoing needs for medications and online medical and psychological consultations. We will collaborate with a volunteer network to distribute medications from our warehouse to people’s homes.

Zhytomyr

In Zhytomyr, MSF teams are supporting care for tuberculosis patients to help them continue taking their medication correctly and complete treatment. We are providing patients with food, hygiene supplies and psychological support and transporting samples to the tuberculosis hospital for testing so patients' progress can be monitored. At the same time, we continue to support the regional tuberculosis hospital by providing medications as well as laboratory supplies.

Eastern Ukraine

MSF has expanded activities in eastern Ukraine in response to the growing humanitarian needs in areas close to the front line and in places hosting people who have fled their homes.

In and around Dnipro we are providing support to people who have fled parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts where the conflict has intensified and who are now staying temporarily or longer-term in more than 40 shelters. Many of the people living in the shelters are highly vulnerable, including the elderly, people with disabilities, unaccompanied children, and people who cannot afford to make the journey farther west in Ukraine or abroad. Our teams run mobile clinics in shelters, distribute relief items, ensure continuity of care for people with chronic illnesses, administer psychological first aid, and refer patients to hospitals when needed.

We are working with health facilities close to the front line in Donetsk oblast to make sure they have enough of the right supplies and training to be able to keep treating patients even if they get cut off from supply lines by intense fighting. We are also providing logistical support to some of these facilities so they can have their own supply of electricity through generators and solar power, and clean water to continue functioning for up to a week.

The hospitals that MSF has visited in the Dontesk and Luhansk regions all have surgical capacity, but at varying levels. MSF has a team based in the region to provide guidance, coaching, and ongoing training for hospitals to improve and expand their surgical capacity, and also to help in case of an overwhelming influx of patients.

MSF runs an ambulance referral service based in the towns of Dnipro and Pokrovsk, transferring patients from hospitals near the front lines to health facilities farther away, such as in Dnipro. Some patients are also transferred onto an MSF medical train. In recent weeks, the ambulance service has seen been very active as fighting in the region has intensified.

In Zaporizhzhia, we are providing support to people who are arriving from Mariupol and other areas where fighting is intense. Our teams run mobile clinics in the main reception center and in shelters throughout Zaporizhzhia. We provide medical consultations, continuity of care, and medications for people with chronic illnesses such as hypertension, asthma, diabetes, heart disease, and epilepsy, and referrals to hospital for severely unwell patients. Our teams also give psychological first aid and mental health consultations and basic relief items. We have donated medical supplies and carried out mass casualty training for staff at the main referral hospital in Zaporizhzhia.

Vinnytsia

In Vinnytsia we are running mobile clinics in shelters for displaced people, working with local hospitals to help them prepare for mass casualty events and exploring how we can provide water and sanitation support. We have rehabilitated a part of a medical facility to accommodate older adults who were evacuated from eastern Ukraine and require medical attention for chronic diseases.

Lviv

Our team is working to support the burns unit of one of the main referral hospitals in Lviv.

Uzhhorod and Ivano-Frankivsk

We have carried out trainings with local health professionals, including on mental health for psychologists and first responders, and our teams have started group therapy sessions and mental health consultations with displaced people. We are supporting a clinic in Ivano-Frankivsk for displaced people, which is run by doctors who are also displaced from their homes. We continue to distribute relief items for displaced people in nearby rural areas.

According to the UN Refugee Agency, more than 6.8 million people have fled Ukraine as of May 29, 2022. MSF is responding to the needs of Ukrainian refugees in neighboring countries.

Slovakia

More than 461,000 people have crossed to Slovakia from Ukraine as of May 29. We have signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Health to import medical supplies, and we have trained health staff on providing care for people with tuberculosis, including multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, and people who have suffered sexual and gender-based violence. For the moment, critical humanitarian and medical needs are being covered by local authorities and civil society. 

Russia

MSF works with health authorities in the Arkhangelsk and Vladimir regions to reduce the burden of drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) and improve treatment for the disease.   

More than 971,000 people have crossed to Russia from Ukraine as of May 26. In Moscow and Saint Petersburg, where we are partnering with local nongovernmental organizations to support vulnerable groups, we’ve seen an increase in patients seeking HIV and hepatitis C care, including Ukrainians who are stranded in Russia without access to medication.  

Belarus

In Belarus, MSF continues to run its regular programs, supporting the national TB program and hepatitis C treatment in prisons. Since 2021, we have also assisted people on the move stranded between Belarus and the European Union.