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Russian attacks hit at least 9 Ukrainian medical facilities, visual evidence shows

Windows blasted out, a car in flames, patients limping away to safety — this was the scene at a maternity hospital in Mariupol, a port city on the Sea of Azov, after a Russian strike tore through the facility, killing at least three people and injuring 17 on March 9, according to Mariupol officials.

The maternity hospital was one of many health care facilities hit amid Russia’s siege on key Ukrainian cities since the nation’s invasion in late February, a new Washington Post analysis reveals.

To confirm which hospitals have been damaged, The Washington Post examined more than 500 videos and photos, reviewed social media posts from the hospitals, spoke to witnesses and hospital employees, and compared key details from these incidents to reports from Ukrainian officials, the United Nations, the World Health Organization, Human Rights Watch, the Center for Information Resilience and ACLED, a group that monitors armed conflict around the world.

The Post’s visual analysis verified nine incidents, including the strike in Mariupol, where hospitals faced direct damage as a result of a reported Russian attack. There were fatalities in at least three of the incidents verified by The Post, according to officials. Three of the facilities specifically served women or children.

“Hospitals and medical facilities are protected by international humanitarian law," a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, Jason Straziuso, said in an email.

Medical facilities are considered “protected objects” under the law unless they are used for military purposes, said Priyanka Motaparthy, director of the Counterterrorism, Armed Conflict and Human Rights Project at Columbia University Law School’s Human Rights Institute. “When you are hitting in the hospital, you’re not only risking killing people who are receiving medical care, who are sick and wounded, but also because of the long-term effects on a civilian population,” she said. Motaparthy added that the opposing party must give warning before it attacks.

International law experts who reviewed The Post’s findings said they appear to show evidence that Russian forces have violated these laws. In at least one case, a pro-Russian media outlet has claimed that a hospital damaged in Ukraine was used for military purposes. The Post found no evidence to support this claim. Motaparthy said an investigation into the incidents should consider any statement the Russian military gave for why it struck the hospital, but hospitals are presumed to be civilian.

The deadliest attacks
In one of the deadliest incidents The Post reviewed, Russian forces fired a ballistic missile carrying a cluster munition, which hit the Central City Hospital in Vuhledar, a town in the separatist Donetsk region on Feb. 24, according to visuals obtained and analyzed in a report by Human Rights Watch. The munition hit just outside the hospital, killing four and injuring 10 civilians, six of whom were health care workers. Human Rights Watch confirmed the events by speaking to a doctor and official from the hospital and verifying photos posted to social media and sent directly by hospital staff. The Post confirmed the geolocation of the photo of damage to the hospital by comparing it to available source imagery on Google Earth, and the incident was also reported by ACLED. The World Health Organization, which has not released the locations of the 24 attacks it has confirmed, listed a single strike on Feb. 24 with the same number of casualties.

Cluster munitions are “inherently indiscriminate weapons,” Motaparthy noted. She explained they often malfunction, leaving behind bomblets that can explode months or years after an attack. They also disperse over a wide area, making them extremely dangerous in populated areas. The UN human rights office has found “credible reports” that Russian forces have used cluster munitions several times since the war began, and that these attacks “may amount to war crimes.”

In addition to the events in Vuhledar and Mariupol, three people died after a strike on an intensive care hospital in Vasylivka, according to officials.

A medical campus in the southeastern city of Vasylivka was struck by Russian rockets on March 1, killing three people and injuring four, the Official channel of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration reported on Telegram. The Post geolocated video showing damaged buildings on the compound by comparing it to source imagery on Google Earth.

“Hospitals and medical facilities are protected by international humanitarian law," a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, Jason Straziuso, said in an email.

Medical facilities are considered “protected objects” under the law unless they are used for military purposes, said Priyanka Motaparthy, director of the Counterterrorism, Armed Conflict and Human Rights Project at Columbia University Law School’s Human Rights Institute. “When you are hitting in the hospital, you’re not only risking killing people who are receiving medical care, who are sick and wounded, but also because of the long-term effects on a civilian population,” she said. Motaparthy added that the opposing party must give warning before it attacks.

International law experts who reviewed The Post’s findings said they appear to show evidence that Russian forces have violated these laws. In at least one case, a pro-Russian media outlet has claimed that a hospital damaged in Ukraine was used for military purposes. The Post found no evidence to support this claim. Motaparthy said an investigation into the incidents should consider any statement the Russian military gave for why it struck the hospital, but hospitals are presumed to be civilian.

The deadliest attacks
In one of the deadliest incidents The Post reviewed, Russian forces fired a ballistic missile carrying a cluster munition, which hit the Central City Hospital in Vuhledar, a town in the separatist Donetsk region on Feb. 24, according to visuals obtained and analyzed in a report by Human Rights Watch. The munition hit just outside the hospital, killing four and injuring 10 civilians, six of whom were health care workers. Human Rights Watch confirmed the events by speaking to a doctor and official from the hospital and verifying photos posted to social media and sent directly by hospital staff. The Post confirmed the geolocation of the photo of damage to the hospital by comparing it to available source imagery on Google Earth, and the incident was also reported by ACLED. The World Health Organization, which has not released the locations of the 24 attacks it has confirmed, listed a single strike on Feb. 24 with the same number of casualties.

Cluster munitions are “inherently indiscriminate weapons,” Motaparthy noted. She explained they often malfunction, leaving behind bomblets that can explode months or years after an attack. They also disperse over a wide area, making them extremely dangerous in populated areas. The UN human rights office has found “credible reports” that Russian forces have used cluster munitions several times since the war began, and that these attacks “may amount to war crimes.”

In addition to the events in Vuhledar and Mariupol, three people died after a strike on an intensive care hospital in Vasylivka, according to officials.

A medical campus in the southeastern city of Vasylivka was struck by Russian rockets on March 1, killing three people and injuring four, the Official channel of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration reported on Telegram. The Post geolocated video showing damaged buildings on the compound by comparing it to source imagery on Google Earth.

Women and children’s services hit
At least a third of the incidents verified by The Post included centers that treated women or children. The attack in Mariupol hit a maternity ward and another damaged a pediatric dental clinic in Chernihiv.

In the northern city of Chernihiv on Feb. 27, visual evidence shows impact to a central courtyard, near a pediatric dental clinic, which The Post confirmed via imagery on Google Earth. The attack left a crater in the ground, uprooted trees and blew the windows and debris from the surrounding buildings. The facility posted video of the aftermath to Facebook, showing blasted-out windows and debris scattered throughout the building.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/03/12/ukraine-hospital-attacks-video/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=wp_world&utm_source=reddit.com

Can't take on military targets so they go for hospitals... well good work putin

The West is busy fueling the war while Ukraine continue to burn..

Well, if we're being honest they're taking them out so they could ukrainians have no place to go. They're taking out important infrastructure to weaken the country. It's a tactic. It's also a war crime, and it's reprehensible, but I don't think we're doing anybody any favors by pretending like this is happening because Russia is completely incompetent. They have been screwing up this Invasion very badly, but their aim isn't that bad. They're doing this on purpose.

chameleon98:
Can't take on military targets so they go for hospitals... well good work putin

They did this a lot in Syria, so I am not surprised its also happening in Ukraine. I recall reading that the number of medical facilities hit dramatically went up after Russia joined the conflict. They also burned crops and hit food depots and they've started doing the same in the Ukraine. He wants to starve them out! For context, there's a lot of history of Russia starving Ukrainians. Both in 1921-23 and during the Holodomor in 1932-3.

The White Helmets were also subjected to Russia's information warfare: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Helmets_(Syrian_civil_war)#Information_warfare_campaign

Putin really stepped in it with this Ukraine invasion.
Even China is like WTF?

The fucking Taliban even put out a press release saying they oppose Russias actions. You know you really bleeped up when even the Taliban is telling you to chill.

Russia isn't fighting a conventional war with Ukraine

They are trying to fustrate, bully and terrorise them till Zelensky surrenders and agree to the Minsk agreement

Take out Power station, Airports, Hospitals, Television stations, Telecommunications system, hack banks, surround their cities and bully them with military presence

.

I pray Putin should not bow his face in shame last last

This is bad. War no bi am.

Oddfinder:
The West is busy fueling the war while Ukraine continue to burn..

And it is west that even asked Russia to invade Ukraine. Rubbish!!!

Putin can no longer slow down cos it would be a shame..

Putin wey carry Elephant for head but still dey block rabbit's hole

But why is Putin behaving like this? going for civilian instead of facing Ukraine soldiers It's unfair o Putin.

joyandfaith:
And it is west that even asked Russia to invade Ukraine. Rubbish!!!

Yeah, the West misled Zelensky to unnecessarily provoked Putin.

Don't you think the past Ukraine presidents had handled their issue with Russia very well compared to Zelensky?

1847i:
[s][/s]

1847i
1848e
1847eig
1847ei
1847eigg

The monikers above are been used to derail threads

Mynd44
Lalasticlacla
Oamj4
Mukina
Seun
Dominique

Rule 1

Oddfinder:
The West is busy fueling the war while Ukraine continue to burn..

Why not blame the one causing and waging the war? How insensitive you are.

what is buhari waiting for? let us intimidate this putin of a man

Shedrack777:
what is buhari waiting for? let us intimidate this putin of a man

This is where Abba Kyari is needed .

We all know that Mariupol is the the Hideout of the the Azov Nazi brigade and they use these hospitals as their bases .... meanwhile since when does western media care about hospitals

SarkinYarki:
We all know that Mariupol is the the Hideout of the the Azov Nazi brigade and they use these hospitals as their bases .... meanwhile since when does western media care about hospitals

Your own no pass spreading fake news or spreading conspiracy theories..

Why you be like that?

Russia is not fighting Ukraine directly, putin is hitting spots to soften Ukraine that's all. If its war Russian can finish Ukraine in 1 week but that's not the purpos plus Russia has been Invading Ukraine for long no be new thing.

helinues:
Yeah, the West misled Zelensky to unnecessarily provoked Putin.

Don't you think the past Ukraine presidents had handled their issue with Russia very well compared to Zelensky?

How? How could Russia annex Ukraine territory? How could Russia organize referendum for Luhansk and Donetsk regions and grant them independence? It is not fair. Claiming Russian speakers are majority in those areas don't mean they belong to Russia. It is just like saying jos north belongs to ethinc hausa/fulani because they are the majority.

falcon01:
Russia is not fighting Ukraine directly, putin is hitting spots to soften Ukraine that's all. If its war Russian can finish Ukraine in 1 week but that's not the purpos plus Russia has been Invading Ukraine for long no be new thing.

Clap for yourself and also clap on behalf of Putin.

He would win Grammy award for that achievements...

Hian

helinues:
Your own no pass spreading fake news or spreading conspiracy theories..

Why you be like that?

What's is conspiracy theory about Azov Brigade and Mariupol?

joyandfaith:
How? How could Russia annex Ukraine territory? How could Russia organize referendum for Luhansk and Donetsk regions and grant them independence? It is not fair. Claiming Russian speakers are majority in those areas don't mean they belong to Russia. It is just like saying jos north belongs to ethinc hausa/fulani because they are the majority.

To start with, Crimea is part of Russia. No argument about that.

Ukraine didn't fight for independent during the collapse of USSR, it was given to one of the loyalists to Crimea who fought in support of USSR. The generosity of given the old Ukraine to the the leader wasn't a consensus agreement..

Even the documents that was issued in regards to that contradicts itself...

But, all that is a past, Putin is still having an imaginary thinking of getting old USSR back which is not possible.. And if you think Putin is the only Russian with such thoughts, you are wrong, the Russian para Olympics athlete who wore the signal of the operation in Ukraine could even be mean more than Putin..

If the legitimacy of Ukraine as a sovereign country was witnessed by Western countries, they would have involved directly in this fight without thinking twice. Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan are not NATO countries now.

SarkinYarki:
What's is conspiracy theory about Azov Brigade and Mariupol?

Is it today you have been bursted with your fake news and conspiracy theories?

Hope you know how many times I have bursted you regarding the Russia-Ukraine crisis

helinues:
Is it today you have been bursted with your fake news and conspiracy theories?

Hope you know how many times I have bursted you regarding the Russia-Ukraine crisis

You have never bursted me on anything , you must be mistaking me for someone else