In a stunning display of 'how to make a bad situation worse,' Russia's ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine has left civilians vulnerable to repeated deadly attacks while humanitarian workers and key facilities get targeted and destroyed. Because apparently, when you're already committing war crimes, why not add 'bombing the people trying to help' to the list?
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that a UN warehouse in Dnipro was hit not once, not twice, but three times - first on Monday, then twice on Friday. The facility held emergency health supplies destined for frontline health facilities. 'Everything was destroyed,' the agency lamented, presumably while staring at a pile of rubble that used to be bandages and medicine.
After the first strike, WHO, in a move that screams 'we saw this coming,' started transferring supplies. An agency staff member and several drivers had just left the site on 7 August before the second strike. Hours later, a third strike destroyed the building. No casualties, because even the universe has a sense of irony.
In total, WHO teams managed to save 130 of roughly 300 pallets, moving them to another location before the storehouse was reduced to dust. The facility had held supplies worth an estimated $500,000 - now that's a pricey pile of rubble.
'This warehouse held supplies that were intended to keep lifesaving services available on the frontline,' said Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, with the kind of exasperation that comes from repeating yourself for three years. 'Its destruction means less medicine, less equipment and less capacity to treat the sick and wounded. These attacks must stop now.'
Meanwhile, in a stunning case of 'pot, meet kettle,' Russian authorities reported that Ukrainian strikes on a warehouse killed five in the Moscow region on Tuesday and seven on a beach in the Krasnodar region on Monday. Because nothing says 'we're the good guys' like bombing a beach.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022, there have been 3,149 attacks on healthcare and 240 deaths, according to WHO data. The agency's global portal shows a total of 72 warehouse attacks and 646 instances where supplies have been impacted. That's a lot of 'oops, we accidentally bombed the hospital' moments.
The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, also highlighted how 'intensifying' Russian attacks across Ukraine have hit facilities run by its partners in recent weeks, disrupting humanitarian operations. These attacks included an airstrike that destroyed a warehouse and office of NGO partner Proliska in Pavlohrad, Dnipro region. No casualties, but the strike destroyed a stock of UNHCR emergency shelter materials intended to support people whose homes have been damaged by shelling. Because of course it did.
That attack followed an earlier strike by Russia on 20 May, when a missile hit a UNHCR-leased warehouse in Dnipro. That one killed two people, injured others, and destroyed approximately 900 pallets of basic aid items and shelter materials worth more than $1 million. All relief items had been ready for distribution to displaced and war-affected people in frontline regions. Now they're just expensive confetti.
UNHCR is working with authorities, partners, and other UN agencies to replenish critical aid stocks and find alternative warehouse space, because apparently storing help is now a high-risk occupation.
In an update last Friday, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, said that at least 10 civilians had been killed in a 24-hour period, with more than 120 others injured. The Dnipro region was hardest hit, with five dead and 16 injured. In the Kharkiv region, attacks killed two and injured 18 after a strike hit a railway station in the city of Lozova. Because trains are clearly military targets.
Elsewhere, attacks killed and injured civilians across the regions of Donetsk, Kherson, Odesa, Sumy, and Zaporizhzhia. An attack on a civilian vessel in the Odesa region killed one sailor and injured three others, while a separate sea-mine incident in the Mykolaiv region left one person dead and three injured. Because the sea isn't safe either.
OCHA also highlighted how the NGO Save The Children reported that a guided aerial bomb damaged its office in the city of Sumy, marking the second attack on the organization's facilities in Ukraine in less than a week. A drone strike also damaged a Save The Children warehouse storing humanitarian supplies for children. Because nothing says 'we care about the children' like bombing the people trying to help them.
Despite the growing risks to aid operations across Ukraine, the UN and its humanitarian partners continue working to provide emergency assistance to people affected by intensified attacks. Because that's what they do, even when the world seems determined to make it as difficult as possible.