Almost 150 attacks reported against health care facilities in Ukraine: WHO

The director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday that his organization has verified nearly 150 attacks against health care facilities in Ukraine and demanded that they end. 

“.@WHO unequivocally condemns the continued increase in attacks on health care in #Ukraine. They must stop. To date, WHO has verified 147 attacks, including 73 people killed, and 53 injured. War will not be a solution. Once again, I call on Russia to end the war,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tweeted.

Images of a devastated maternity hospital in Mariupol circulated widely after Ukrainian officials accused Russia of bombing the facility in March. 

The bombing killed three people and left more than a dozen wounded. 

Meanwhile, the Russian Embassy in London claimed that the photos of the attack were fake and asserted dubious claims about the hospital, who was using it and information regarding one of the victims — leading Twitter to remove several posts. 

Ukrainian officials have also accused Russia of attacking a cancer hospital in the southern city of Mykolaiv, among several other buildings. 

The United States determined last month that Russia has committed war crimes in Ukraine, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken pointing to attacks on hospitals, among other acts by Russian forces, in his announcement of the formal assessment.

President Biden and former President Trump have also claimed that Russia has committed a genocide in Ukraine. Biden noted, however, that the final determination regarding whether Russia’s actions amount to genocide would be up to his lawyers.