Pavlo Kovtoniuk: In most of the 170 cases of bombings on health infrastructure were either target-delivered or indiscriminate attacks

Pavlo Kovtoniuk, co-founder of the Ukrainian Healthcare Center (UHC) and Deputy Minister of Health of Ukraine (2016-2019), spoke at the Aspen Ideas Health of the Aspen Institute (USA). Pavlo talked about losses in Ukrainian health infrastructure during the war.

•     As Russian troops advanced, they brutally destroyed all civilian infrastructure, including healthcare facilities. During the investigation, it was revealed that in most of the 170 cases of bombings of health infrastructure were either targeted attacks or indiscriminate attacks. 
•     Now, health is not only being a victim of war, but it is also a weapon to war. The reason why Russians destroyed civilian and health infrastructure was to inflict terror. The result is people fleeing their homes and cities. Ukraine now has the highest number of refugees and internally displaced people since WWII. From the population of 40 million people, 7 million have fled the country and another 7 million have been internally displaced. 
•     Russian attitudes towards civilian and healthcare facilities are not a coincidence but an intentional tactic. Despite many differences between the Ukrainian-Russian war and the civilian war in Syria, that Russian tactic remains similar. There have been 244 attacks on health facilities in Syria committed by Russian troops since its intervention in the country in 2015. Before this, the coalition forces of the US and the EU had only four cases of accidental attacks on hospitals during their fight against ISIL whereas the latter committed ten attacks on hospitals. There was a huge refugee crisis as a result.
•     Russia must not win this war as it is obligatory to hold them accountable and bring them to justice. Moreover, this is a serious intentional attack not only on infrastructure but on our shared values, ways of life, on what we respect and believe in. Russians know that in Ukraine human life is of the highest value and they inflict as much suffering as they can to exert the pressure on the Ukrainian government to force out a surrender.

Elizabeth Cohen, Senior medical correspondent at CNN’s Health, Medical, and Wellness Unit, conducted the interview.