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Russia destroyed 400 hospitals, leaving patients in extreme difficulties: Zelensky

ZAPORIZHZHIAEdited By: Nikhil PandeyUpdated: May 06, 2022, 02:41 PM IST
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According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has devastated nearly 400 hospitals and other medical institutions and left doctors without drugs to tackle cancer or the ability to perform surgery.

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This amounts to a complete lack of medication for cancer patients. It means extreme difficulties or a complete lack of insulin for diabetes. It is impossible to carry out surgery. It even means, quite simply, a lack of antibiotics.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Russia's invasion of his country has destroyed hundreds of hospitals and other medical institutions, leaving doctors without cancer medications or the ability to do surgery.

Many locations in eastern and southern Ukraine, where the main battlegrounds are, lack even basic antibiotics, according to Zelensky.

"If you consider just medical infrastructure, as of today Russian troops have destroyed or damaged nearly 400 healthcare institutions: hospitals, maternity wards, outpatient clinics," Zelenskiy said in a video address to a medical charity group on Thursday.

He described the condition in Russian-occupied areas as "catastrophic."

"This amounts to a complete lack of medication for cancer patients. It means extreme difficulties or a complete lack of insulin for diabetes. It is impossible to carry out surgery. It even means, quite simply, a lack of antibiotics."

On March 9, a maternity facility in the besieged port city of Mariupol was almost completely destroyed in one of the most highly condemned atrocities of the conflict. Russia claimed that the attack was orchestrated and that armed Ukrainian organisations had exploited the facility.

The Kremlin claims it exclusively attacks military or strategic targets, not civilians. Ukraine accuses Russia of war crimes and cites civilian casualties from Russian artillery and fighting on a regular basis. The charges are denied by Russia.

Watch | Ukraine war: Europe proposes ban on Russian oil, aims to phase out Russian crude in 6 months

The governor of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said 25 people were injured in heavy shelling in the town of Kramatorsk, which was the scene of a railway station explosion last month that killed more than 50 people.

He said a total of 32 residential buildings had been damaged in the shelling.

Russia's actions in Ukraine are described as a "special operation" aimed at disarming Ukraine and protecting it from fascists. The allegations of fascism are unfounded, according to Ukraine and the West, and the war is an unprovoked act of aggression. Since the invasion began, more than 5 million Ukrainians have gone abroad.

After failing to conquer Kyiv, Russia has concentrated its firepower on Ukraine's east and south. The new front aims to restrict Ukraine's access to the Black Sea, which is critical for food and metal exports, as well as link Russian-controlled territory in the east to Crimea, which Moscow seized in 2014.

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