Russia has launched at least 136 attacks on healthcare facilities in Ukraine since the invasion began

Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, revealed during a news conference on Monday that there have been at least 73 dead and 52 injured in 136 attacks on health facilities in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began.

Dujarric cited the latest figures from the World Health Organization, adding that attacks on healthcare facilities in Ukraine currently account for more than 68% of all attacks on healthcare facilities worldwide since the beginning of the year.

Just 10 days ago, WHO had reported that it had been able to confirm about 100 attacks on health infrastructure in Ukraine. “So far, WHO has verified 103 incidents of attacks on health services, with 73 people killed and 51 injured, including health personnel and patients,” said the head of the organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, at a press conference.

Dukharric also stated that more than 25 per cent of people in Ukraine have been displaced due to the war, including about 4.9 million refugees and 7.1 million internally displaced persons within the same invaded country.

Dujarric added that Secretary General Guterres remains “deeply concerned” about the ongoing attacks in Ukraine, which cause civilian casualties and damage to infrastructure, especially in the besieged city of Mariupol.

“The Secretary-General strongly urges all parties to enact an urgent and immediate humanitarian ceasefire, which will allow the safe operation of humanitarian corridors, help evacuate civilian residents and also provide life-saving humanitarian and medical assistance,” he said.

Ahead of the briefing, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths announced that he will travel to Turkey to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this week to press for the creation of a “humanitarian contact group” involving Ukraine and Russia.

That group would “meet convened by the UN to discuss virtually or real at any time on humanitarian issues,” the head of the United Nations Humanitarian Area told journalists in New York.

That could include ceasefire monitoring, safe passage routes, humanitarian corridors and other issues between the two warring sides since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, he said.

Griffiths did not say exactly when he would meet with Erdogan, but said he planned to arrive in Turkey on Wednesday and leave on Thursday.

He and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke on the phone with Erdogan on Sunday to discuss the initiative.

Russia has been repeatedly accused in recent weeks of also attacking civilians in Ukraine. Aid agencies have warned of the need to protect and evacuate civilians caught in the conflict.

Griffiths had visited Moscow in early April before a trip to Kiev, to try to obtain a humanitarian ceasefire and facilitate other aid interventions.

Last week, however, Guterres admitted that it seemed unlikely to stop the fighting, and on Monday, Griffiths confirmed that Moscow “was not putting local ceasefires high on its agenda. Not yet.”

Ukraine has accepted most of the UN's humanitarian proposals, but Russia has not yet, said the diplomat, who warned that it is too easy for both sides to “blame each other when something goes wrong.”

(With information from AFP)

Keep reading: