Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
Roughly a quarter of the damaged facilities have been fully rebuilt.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Health released updated figures outlining the devastation brought upon its healthcare system since Russia launched its full-scale invasion.
Despite the Kremlin repeatedly claimind that Russia only strikes military targets, Ukrainian authorities confirmed that 2,687 individual sites belonging to 854 healthcare facilities have been damaged or completely destroyed as of September 1.
Regions like Kharkiv, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, Mykolaiv, and Kyiv have suffered the heaviest toll.
Emergency response teams have suffered massive losses on the roads as well. According to ministry data, Russian forces destroyed 345 ambulances, damaged 225, and seized 80 vehicles from local rescue units.
Battling to rebuild
Despite continuous air raids and physical hazards, local repair teams keep fixing damaged medical centers. While 317 facilites have been partially restored, workers have managed to fully rebuilt 752 facilities, the Ukrainian health ministry says.
Keeping those buildings intact remains a constant challenge for local authorities. Fresh strikes keep hitting targets that were already repaired. In fact, 87 fully restored clinics were later damaged a second time.
Official statements emphasize that healthcare teams refuse to stop working despite the constant threat. “Medical facilities continue to operate even under difficult conditions. Currently, 1,639 sites remain operational, another 187 are functioning partially, and 241 have been evacuated to other locations,” the ministry said.
No place is safe
Moving far away from active combat lines offers no guarantee of protection. On July 2, United24 Media reported a major hospital originally evacuated from Mariupol to Kyiv suffered severe damage during an overnight drone and missile barrage on the capital.
The actual scale of destruction is likely far worse than official counts suggest. Government officials noted that verifying damage in Russian-occupied territories remains impossible, leaving large areas unaccounted for in official tallies.
Until the fighting stops, Ukrainian doctors and nurses continue treating patients in damaged buildings and improvised spaces. Their ongoing work keeps essential care accessible across a heavily battered country.
