Berlin has allocated €4 million for Ukraine’s healthcare system. The funds will be used for medicine and medical supplies for “Ohmatdyt” Kyiv Children’s Hospital, other hospitals in different cities that have taken its patients, and frontline medical facilities, German Ambassador Martin Jaeger has announced, as per UkrInform.
On 8 July 2024, Russian forces launched a missile attack on Kyiv that struck the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital. The strike on the Ukrainian capital killed 33 and injured 117 people overall.
The strike was carried out using Kh-101 cruise missiles launched by Tu-95MS strategic bombers based at Engels-2 airbase near Smolensk. Investigators found missile fragments at the hospital site bearing serial numbers matching this type of weapon.
Volodymyr Zhovnir, the director of Kyiv’s Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital, described the attack as “complete hell” and said that over 600 patients and nearly as many staff were present during the strike, and three complex surgeries were underway at the time. Patients from the hospitals were transferred to other clinics all over Ukraine.
“We are providing €4 million specifically as emergency aid. It is about medicines and other medical supplies that are urgently needed here right now. But children from ‘Ohmatdyt’ have been taken in by other hospitals in different cities, and they need to be cared for as well. Therefore, funds from this €4 million in emergency aid will also be allocated to those hospitals,” said Jaeger.
He added that in taking care of “Ohmatdyt,” it is also necessary to think about people living in frontline areas who suffer from daily Russian attacks.
“They also need assistance from these funds. So this emergency aid will go not only to Kyiv but also to these frontline areas where people are also suffering,” the German ambassador noted.
He said that employees of the German association Caritas and the German Red Cross Society have already arrived in Ukraine. Together with Ukrainian partners, they will ensure that the allocated funds are used promptly where they are needed.
Jaeger also mentioned that together with “Ohmatdyt” CEO Volodymyr Zhovnir, he inspected the hospital buildings damaged during a Russian missile attack. According to him, the scale of the destruction is impressive, so Germany will provide €10 million for the reconstruction of “Ohmatdyt”.
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