After more than 100 days of war in Ukraine, the heavy toll on civilians is becoming clearer every day. The patients we speak to in MSF’s ambulance and train referral services—and through our teams’ support of hospitals in east and southeast Ukraine—tell us that airstrikes and shelling by Russian and Russian-backed armed forces are a daily occurrence and are inflicting enormous suffering on civilians and intense pressure on healthcare facilities.
There is nowhere that civilians are safe. They can be wounded in their homes, inside shelters, or during evacuations. Some are prevented from leaving and have been stuck in besieged cities or trapped in fighting with no or only limited access to essential services like healthcare and medication.
“The bombing was happening from all sides,” says a woman in her 70s* accompanying her disabled husband on MSF’s medical train. “So many people died… all the windows of my house shattered.
“My husband is disabled. Last year, the social services gave us a special care bed. I built an improvised shelter around it and covered it with blankets. At the beginning of the war, when the shelling was further away, I would hide under his bed. Every time there was an explosion, I screamed in fear. Later, when the shelling came closer, I hid in the basement of one of our neighbours’ houses leaving him on his bed.
“I couldn’t carry him with me. He’s immobile and is too heavy for me. Every time I was afraid of what I might see when I returned.”