Mostly elderly people injured in Russian strike on hospital in Kharkiv

Anna Kovalenko - 3 November, 18:45

Patients and staff were in a shelter at the time of the attack. Photo: Office of the Prosecutor General on Facebook

A total of 73 people, mostly elderly patients, were injured as a result of an overnight strike on a hospital in Kharkiv on 2-3 November. Most of them were diagnosed with an acute stress reaction.

Source: Viktor Zabashta, director of the Kharkiv Oblast Centre for Emergency Medical Care, as reported by Suspilne Kharkiv

Details: According to hospital director Olha Romanenko, two explosions occurred at around 02:30 on 3 November, almost immediately after the air-raid warning was issued. She says that the patients and staff were saved by the fact that they went down to the shelter at the time of the attack.

That night, there were 236 patients and 31 staff members in the affected hospital building, which provides care to over a thousand people with acute myocardial infarction every year.

Viktor Zabashta says that no one suffered severe injuries, although some suffered cuts from glass and secondary projectiles.

Quote: "Of course, they were frightened. These are sick people, mostly very elderly, aged between 67 and 83. They were taken down to the bomb shelter, and then they sat in the admissions department in the cold. We evacuated almost everyone because it was impossible to stay there."

Details: All patients have now been transferred to other hospitals in the city.

Background:

On the night of 2-3 November, Russian forces struck a hospital in Kharkiv's Nemyshlianskyi district. The hit occurred in the walkway between the medical facility's buildings. The building's windows were shattered, and its facades were smashed.
A private medical facility, a laboratory, cars, and the windows of 10 nearby houses were also damaged. According to preliminary data, the Russians used a FAB-250 guided aerial bomb equipped with a UMPC-5R module [universal gliding and correction module – ed.] for the attack.
Law enforcement officers have opened criminal proceedings regarding the war crime.

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