30 janvier 2023. Hôpital de la ville de Vysokopilla, Oblast de Kherson. © Colin Delfosse

War in Ukraine

"Thank you for your solidarity click.

It is a first strong signal of your support for the affected populations.
I invite you to find out more about what MSF is doing in the field and how you can help the people concerned."

Thomas Kauffmann, Directeur Général de MSF Luxembourg

Thomas Kauffmann
General Director
MSF Luxembourg

Les combats acharnés ont causé d'importants dégâts aux bâtiments et aux infrastructures dans et autour de l'Hostomel. © Maurizio Debanne/MSF

Over the past three years, we have worked on a number of key activities, including :

  • Evacuation and referral of the wounded
  • Provision of medical and mental health care
  • Surgical, emergency and intensive care services

Over the past 12 months, we have focused on:

  • Providing medical care in war-affected areas
  • Providing mental health support, physiotherapy and transport for the war-wounded
  • Responding to other needs, including physiotherapy, in central Ukraine.

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Humanitarian figures

Dernière mise à jour: Février 2025

M

refugees from Ukraine (July 2024)
 

M

IDPs inside the country (July 2024)

M

reeturnees (April 2024)

Our response to the crisis

Soon after the massive escalation in early 2022, MSF teams adapted rapidly to the needs and gaps identified, scaling up quickly, and re-positioning different projects and activities according to the changing needs and capacity of health facilities and other organisations. Our activities have covered surgical and intensive care, and medical referrals, mental health, physiotherapy, and treatment for chronic conditions, including TB-screening. We maintain regular contact with the Ministry of Health, medical professionals, local organisations and volunteer networks, to best understand the changing needs and respond where we can.

MSF is organising its response to the humanitarian crisis by providing:

  • Medical referrals and evacuation by MSF ambulances. 

  • Supporting the emergency care and intensive care unit as well as supporting the surgical capacity of hospitals near the frontlines in Dnipropetrovsk and Kherson regions. 

  • Early Rehabilitation activities through multi-disciplinary team’s approach (Physiotherapy, nursing and post-surgery care, and psychological support for war-wounded and injured patients), as well as physiotherapy and psychological support trainings for staff in surgery wards at hospitals supported by MSF teams. 

  • Mobile clinics teams providing primary healthcare, mental health counselling and psychoeducation services, as well as sexual and reproductive healthcare, particularly in areas close to the frontlines.

  • Active case finding with screening of risk groups for TB/HIV/Heps in the areas close to frontline. 

  • Medical donations, including medical kits, equipment and medicine to hospitals and medical facilities with shortages.

  • Trainings about secondary healthcare, including mass casualty trainings, pain management trainings and mental health to healthcare staff. 

  • Comprehensive mental health care for war-related traumatic stress to support displaced people, children and veterans. Building capacity of mental health workers to enhance to quality of services provided to the population. 

primary health consultations from january to july 2024

mental health consultations from january to july 2024

patients transported by ambulance from january to july 2024

physiotherapy sessions from january to july 2024

Réponse en Ukraine de MSF

Our staff on the field

international staff

local staff

L’impact de la guerre sur les structures médicales et les opérations de MSF : une chronologie

MSF’s ways of working have adapted to the way this war is being fought, including the provision of psychological first aid to our own teams when they come under fire while carrying out medical activities, or the fact that MSF’s ambulance crews must sometimes wait before responding due to ongoing shelling, or even a so-called double tap strike.

Since February 2022, a number of hospitals that MSF supports and an MSF office, have been damaged or destroyed in bombardments. Below is a timeline of attacks on medical facilities and MSF structures, and of how MSF has been forced to withdraw from some locations or hospitals as shelling encroached.

The following is split into two sections, the first being how our operations have adapted based on the fighting/shelling etc. The second is focused on incidents where medical facilities or MSF facilities have been damaged, or incidents such as the bombing of the Kramatorsk railway station, where our teams responded to the aftermath of a significant attack.

Timeline of attacks on MSF staff

Apr. 2022

4 apr. 2022 - An MSF medical team in Mykolaiv oncology hospital witnessed a bombing by Russian forces that could be consistent with the use of cluster munitions. Both the oncology hospital and the nearby paediatric hospital came under fire in the attack. 

6-7 Apr 2022 - The MSF medical train evacuated 40 patients from the crowded Kramatorsk train station where hundreds of people were waiting to be evacuated. The following day, on 8 April, Russian forces shelled the station, killing at least 58 people and injuring around 100. The MSF medical train then returned to Kramatorsk to evacuate the people, many of them children, many of whom suffered severe trauma, in some cases requiring amputations.

Spring 2023

MSF was able to reach numerous medical facilities located in areas formerly occupied by the Russian military areas in Kherson and Donetsk regions. The facilities had been looted, medical vehicles including ambulances had been destroyed. Inside two of these facilities they saw weapons and explosives;

May 2023

26 may 2023 - A Russian missile struck a medical facility in Dnipro, killing two people and injuring an estimated 23, including two children. MSF responded by providing psychological first aid and medical supplies for the hospital;

Aug. 2023

1st aug. 2023 - An MSF-supported hospital in Kherson was shelled by Russian forces, resulting in a Ministry of Health doctor being killed. The operating theatre suffered a direct hit. On 4 August the hospital was shelled for the second time which resulted in the destruction of the morgue;

Oct. 2023

5 oct. 2023 - An MSF-supported hospital in Beryslav, Kherson region, was hit in an attack by Russian forces. The two top floors of the hospital were destroyed and two medical staff were injured. The hospital had to cease all medical activities.

Nov. 2023

13 nov. 2023 - A hospital in Kherson region where MSF works was hit in an artillery strike. Four people were injured, including two medical staff;

20 Nov 2023 - A hospital in Selydove, Donetsk region, where an MSF team was working, was targeted by gunfire. The hospital and two MSF ambulances were damaged, with windows shattered by the shockwave of the explosion.

Feb. 2024

13 feb. 2024 - Russian forces struck the MSF-supported hospital in Kherson city, forcing our surgical team to seek shelter in the bunker, and damaging the outpatient clinic;

14 Feb 2024 - An MSF-supported hospital in Selydove was hit, killing 3 and injuring 6;

 

Mar. 2024

14 mar. 2024 - A hospital in Trostianets, Sumy region, which MSF had supported, was shelled. This resulted in damage to multiple departments and medical equipment.

Apr. 2024

5 apr. 2024 - The MSF office in Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, was destroyed as Russian forces bombarded the city. Five people were injured, including MSF’s security staff. Our pharmacy storage with medicines for ambulance teams was destroyed. MSF had to temporarily scale down its medical humanitarian activities in the Donetsk.

July 2024

8 july 2024 - During a massive wave of bombings by the Russian military across Ukraine, the largest diagnostic and treatment facility for children in Ukraine was hit. Two adults were killed, and more than 50 were wounded, including 8 children who were in the hospital. At the beginning of the full-scale war, MSF doctors assisted medical staff in surgical wards in the hospitals and provided training for physical therapists. After the attack, we donated medical supplies for the hospital.

Oct. 2024

25 oct. 2024 - During the Russian forces attack on Dnipro, one of the largest hospitals in Ukraine was hit. MSF has been working with it since 2022, referring critical patients by ambulances here.

Nov. 2024

7 nov. 2024 - A cancer hospital in Zaporizhzhia was struck amid intense bombardment. Since the escalation in 2022, MSF has been referring critically ill patients from this hospital to other facilities for specialised care.

MSF activities in Ukraine before 2022

MSF began working in Ukraine in 1999. Initially, our activities were focused on providing treatment for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and hepatitis C. Since 2014, war has been raging in eastern Ukraine, in the oblasts (provinces) of Luhansk and Donetsk. For people living in small villages close to the fighting, access to healthcare remains a challenge. Between 2014 and 2019, MSF helped conflict-affected people in the region by mobilizing mobile clinics, offering support to health workers from local organizations and training them to provide mental health care.


In 2020, MSF transferred a three-year hepatitis C project to Mykolaiv and responded to the COVID-19 pandemic in Zhytomyr and Donetsk oblasts by donating personal protective equipment, rapid diagnostic tests and oxygen concentrators to health facilities. We also offered psychological support to healthcare staff, patients and communities. In Donetsk oblast, MSF provided home-based care for patients with mild to moderate symptoms through its mobile clinics.

Oleksandr Cherniavskyi, conseiller en sécurité, constate l'étendue des dégâts. L'équipe de MSF examine l'ampleur des destructions après la récente attaque. Le bureau de MSF est complètement détruit. 05/04/2024 © Yuliia Trofimova/MSF

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