Key facts
- Paramedic Inna Lytvynenko described being hunted by Russian drones in Kherson.
- The World Health Organization has recorded over 3,000 attacks on healthcare facilities in Ukraine since February 2022.
- Attacks on healthcare have seen a 30% increase in 2024 compared to the previous year.
- Doctors Without Borders reports that Russia systematically targets Ukrainian medical facilities.
- Strikes on ambulances account for 20% of all attacks on Ukraine's healthcare system.
Russian forces are increasingly targeting medical personnel and facilities in Ukraine, with paramedic Inna Lytvynenko recounting a harrowing experience of being pursued by drones in Kherson. She described being hunted by FPV drones after responding to an injured woman, with the drones smashing into her ambulance and continuing to target her for approximately ten minutes. The attacks extended to other vehicles attempting to reach the injured, highlighting a pattern of what Lytvynenko called "safari hunting."
This trend is corroborated by international organizations. The World Health Organization (WHO) has registered 3,118 attacks on healthcare facilities since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, averaging two cases per day. The number of such attacks has steadily increased, with a 20% rise in 2023 and a further 30% increase in 2024, a trend expected to continue. A report by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) suggests these attacks are systematic and deliberate, rather than incidental consequences of offensives.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for greater pressure on Russia to halt these deliberate "hunting attacks" on civilians. The targeting of medical infrastructure includes hospitals, such as one in Kherson hit by multiple missiles last month, killing a doctor. The "double-tap" tactic, where a location is struck twice in quick succession, is also frequently employed, often aimed at first responders. Even humanitarian organizations' warehouses are not spared, with three UN agency warehouses damaged recently.
While some missile and drone strikes can be indiscriminate, FPV drone attacks are considered almost always intentional due to the direct visual targeting capability. Lytvynenko emphasized that her uniform and the ambulance's markings clearly identified her as medical personnel, suggesting a conscious decision to target them. These attacks on ambulances constitute 20% of all assaults on Ukraine's healthcare system, indicating a calculated strategy. The sustained attacks are isolating civilian populations near the frontlines from essential medical services, particularly affecting the elderly with chronic conditions who rely on regular medication and check-ups. The growing danger has led to police being dispatched instead of ambulances in some cases, and mobile clinics are being forced to operate significantly further from the front lines, with MSF having ceased regular visits to numerous villages and paused ambulance services in Sloviansk.