Officials in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv Friday announced the evacuation of two hospitals which they feared could be targeted by Russian strikes.
“The city is urgently beginning to evacuate two hospitals because a video is being widely circulated online, de facto announcing an enemy attack on these medical facilities,” Kyiv’s city administration said.
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It referred to comments made by the head of the KGB in Moscow-allied Belarus, who said on national television that the buildings hosted military personnel “hiding behind sick children” -- suggesting Russia could regard the facilities a legitimate military target.
The city of Kyiv said the claim was “an absolute lie and provocation of the enemy, trying to use this to strike the social infrastructure of the capital.”
One of the facilities, located on Bogatyrska street, is a children’s hospital, Kyiv said.
AFP journalists on the scene saw around ten ambulances waiting for patients to be evacuated.
A child on a stretcher connected to medical equipment was placed in one of the vehicles, which left the scene. Some patients were leaving the hospital on their own.
The head of Kyiv’s military administration, Sergiy Popko, said the evacuations were taken out of precaution.
“So far, there is no evidence to suggest that Russia is actually going to launch such strikes. However, for us, the lives and health of our people and our children are the highest value,” he said.
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“We are doing our best to protect children, their parents, adult patients and staff from a possible attack on these medical institutions,” Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
The World Health Organization has recorded at least 1,682 attacks against Ukraine’s health care system since the beginning of the war.
These caused 128 deaths and 288 injuries, according to WHO statistics released in early April.
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