Strike on children’s hospital marks another Ukrainian facility hit by Russian attack

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A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:

A child and two adults died this week when a Russian missile hit Ukraine's most important children's hospital. It was in Kyiv, more than 300 miles from the front line, and it highlights a stark reality that regardless of location, Ukraine's health facilities could be targets. Here's NPR's Ashley Westerman.

UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL GROUP: (Singing in non-English language).

ASHLEY WESTERMAN, BYLINE: A trio of men sing Catholic prayers as the funeral of Dr. Svitlana Lukianchyk gets underway at a church in Lviv's city center. Loved ones gather at the front, some touching the white casket trimmed with gold, tears rolling down their faces. A photo of the smiling pediatric kidney doctor from Lviv is on display. She was blonde and young, only 30, and a mother of two.

UNIDENTIFIED PRIEST: (Non-English language spoken).

WESTERMAN: Following a brief eulogy by a priest, Lukianchyk's casket is taken off its crimson pedestal and walked out of the church to be driven to the cemetery. Watching tearfully, Katiana Trubych, a former classmate, says Lukianchyk was kind.

KATIANA TRUBYCH: (Through interpreter) She loved children very much. She devoted her entire life to medicine. Now she's gone - gone to the other world.

WESTERMAN: Lukianchyk was killed Monday, when a missile fired by Russia hit the Okhmatdyt children's hospital in Kyiv, the country's largest pediatric facility. That day, the World Health Organization reported that the number of deaths related to attacks on health care facilities since the full-scale invasion began hit 150. Russia claims they aren't aiming for civilian infrastructure. That would be a war crime. Still, many experts say the evidence doesn't back that up.

ANDREW D'ANIERI: I think it's difficult to be surprised anymore by the depths to which Russia is willing to go.

WESTERMAN: That's Andrew D'Anieri with the Atlantic Council.

D'ANIERI: Missile strikes on civilians and particularly healthcare facilities are a part of the Russian playbook. We've seen this in Syria from 2015 onward and, of course, after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

WESTERMAN: The WHO says since February 2022, Russian attacks have impacted over 1,600 health facilities across Ukraine. And while first responders are three times more likely to suffer from an attack, all fields across health and science have been affected.

Roman Fishchuk is an ENT doctor. He also monitors clinical trials happening across Ukraine.

ROMAN FISHCHUK: The amount of people that moved outside of Ukraine and the amount of people who died during the full-scale invasion, I don't think we can quantify the potential they had in them.

WESTERMAN: Each medical or science expert carries decades of knowledge and experience with them, meaning it could take Ukraine generations to recover the loss.

Ashley Westerman, NPR News, Lviv.

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