FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 8, 2024

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MedGlobal Condemns Russian Attack on Children’s Hospital in Kyiv

International humanitarian aid organization MedGlobal partnered with Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital to train health professionals; has sent multiple medical missions into Ukraine since Russian invasion in 2022

MedGlobal, an international medical aid NGO that has provided on-the-ground medical relief teams, trainings, and resources in Ukraine since March 2022 – just weeks after the Russian invasion began – condemned today’s barbaric attack by Russian forces on Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital in Kyiv, the largest children’s medical center in the country and a provider of specialty treatment for pediatric cancer patients. MedGlobal has multiple full-time team members on the ground in Ukraine.

MedGlobal has partnered directly with Okhmatdyt Hospital to provide trainings on post-operative and nursing care for doctors from dozens of cities across Ukraine – one of over one hundred hospitals where the organization has provided trainings since the war began. MedGlobal is appalled by today’s attack, in which according to the latest reports, at least two people were killed and 10 injured. The attack was part of a broader barrage of Russian missile strikes throughout the country in which at least 31 people in total were reportedly killed. 

According to the World Health Organization, Russia has carried out more than 1,600 heavy weapons attacks impacting medical facilities in Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion in March of 2022, with 141 people killed in these attacks.

Dr. Zaher Sahloul, President and Co-Founder of MedGlobal, has visited Ukraine five times since the conflict began, including most recently in June 2024. He released the following statement: 

“Whether in Ukraine, Syria, Gaza or anywhere else in the world, attacks on medical facilities and medical personnel violate international law and are never acceptable. The international community must hold the perpetrators of such attacks accountable – and do everything in their power to protect medical facilities and the patients who rely on them. The Syrianisation of the Ukraine war is no coincidence. Russia got away with it once — and believes it will again.”

Dr. Sahloul and other MedGlobal representatives are available for interview about the hospital attack and the broader crises facing the Ukrainian medical system amid the ongoing war. They include:

• Oleksandra Kozlovska, MedGlobal Ukraine country director based in Kyiv 
• Dr. Olga Maihutiak, MedGlobal Ukraine Health Programs Coordinator based in Chicago
• Timothy Conley, MedGlobal board member, has visited Ukraine five times to train first responders and emergency personnel, including on chemical and radiation patient care and response

Contact Logan Bayroff at [email protected] to arrange an interview. 

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MedGlobal is a humanitarian nonprofit organization that provides emergency response and health programs to build resilience among vulnerable communities around the world.