Data and patient accounts reveal “no mercy” for civilians in Ukraine war

June 22, 2022

Medical data and accounts from patients evacuated on Médecins Sans Frontières’ (MSF) medical referral train show that the war in Ukraine is being conducted with an outrageous lack of care to distinguish and protect civilians. Over 40 percent of the...

“I don’t feel heartache, it’s deep in my soul” – The mental health needs in Ukraine

June 3, 2022

“I feel fear in my soul. My fingers and hands begin to get cold,” says Vira, an elderly woman who fled the Donetsk region and is now seeking shelter in Ivano-Frankivsk, in the southwest of the country. “I’m worried about...

Bombs over Mariupol, Ukraine: Each day is like losing your whole life

March 24, 2022

Sasha, a long-time staff member of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) from Mariupol, Ukraine, describes life in the city as it was encircled and bombarded by Russian forces. For security reasons, he is using only his first name. I...

Ukraine: Staff in major Kyiv hospital receive training for potential increase in casualties

March 18, 2022

Staff in the 750-bed Okhmatdyt paediatric hospital, one of the largest in central Kyiv, Ukraine, have received training and advice on mass casualty influxes (a large number of trauma patients arriving at the same time) from a visiting surgical team from...

Ukraine: War in Ukraine has displaced me twice and I’m on the road again

March 16, 2022

Aleksandr Burmin* is an MSF staff member in Ukraine. Here he recounts how war in Ukraine has displaced him for the second time in less than 10 years.As dawn broke on 24 February in Kyiv, Ukraine, I woke to the sound of explosions...

Ukraine: Every day thousands of Ukrainians arrive in Slovakia – traumatised and exhausted

March 15, 2022

More than 195,000 refugees have crossed into Slovakia since the war started in Ukraine on 24 February, according to the UN*. Our project coordinator, Marta Wnorowska, is currently on the Slovakian-Ukrainian border and describes the situation on the ground. How is the situation in the...

Ukraine: Thousands of people flee bombings in south Ukraine and head west

March 12, 2022

Thousands of Ukrainians are arriving at the Palanca border crossing in Moldova every day to escape the fighting in the south of Ukraine. Since the war began, more than 230,000 refugees (as of March 8) have arrived in Moldova. However, less than half of...

Ukraine: “There’s an urgent humanitarian race against time in Ukraine”

March 11, 2022

Anja Wolz, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Emergency Coordinator currently based in Lviv, Ukraine, explains the urgency of this stage of the humanitarian response to the war in the country. Here in Lviv, I am getting multiple calls from hospitals...

Ukraine: In Odessa, “everyone is preparing for the worst”

March 8, 2022

Carla Melki, emergency coordinator for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), has just returned from the port city of Odessa in southern Ukraine, where she was part of an MSF team assessing the current situation. Our teams there have been...

Ukraine: Emergency medical supplies rushed to Kyiv by train from Ukraine warehouse

March 6, 2022

Around 6 pm local time, Saturday 5 March, one of Médecins Sans Frontières’ (MSF) emergency response teams in Ukraine met Oleksandr Kamyshin, Chairman of the Board of Ukrainian Railways. MSF’s first international supplies had arrived in Ukraine, and had been...

Ukraine: Civilians must be allowed safe passage out of dire conditions in Mariupol

March 5, 2022

The city of Mariupol is among the areas now heavily affected by the war in Ukraine. Multiple staff members of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) are sheltering in the city with their families. One staff member gave the following account today: “The...

Ukraine: Corridors are not enough for civilians and humanitarian aid in Ukraine

March 5, 2022

Following the soul-wrenching reports we received from trapped Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) staff in Mariupol, Ukraine, we are closely following the ongoing reports about an agreement for the safe passage of civilians this weekend. It is vital that such opportunities for civilians...