Ukrainian Health Minister Viktor Liashko said Russian authorities repeatedly have blocked efforts to provide state-subsidized drugs to people in occupied cities, towns and villages…reports Asian Lite News
The destruction of hospitals and infrastructure along with the displacement of an estimated 7 million people inside the country also have interfered with other forms of treatment, according to United Nations and Ukrainian officials.
Ukraine’s health minister has accused Russian authorities of committing a crime against humanity by blocking access to affordable medicines in areas its forces have occupied since invading the country 5 1/2 months ago.
Ukrainian Health Minister Viktor Liashko said Russian authorities repeatedly have blocked efforts to provide state-subsidized drugs to people in occupied cities, towns and villages.
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“Throughout the entire six months of war, Russia has not (allowed) proper humanitarian corridors so we could provide our own medicines to the patients that need them,” Liashko said, speaking at the Health Ministry in Kyiv late Friday.
“We believe that these actions are being taken with intent by Russia, and we consider them to be crimes against humanity and war crimes that will be documented and will be recognized,” the minister said.
The Ukrainian government has a program that provides medications to people with cancer and chronic health conditions. The destruction of hospitals and infrastructure along with the displacement of an estimated 7 million people inside the country also have interfered with other forms of treatment, according to United Nations and Ukrainian officials.
The war in Ukraine has caused severe disruptions to the country’s state-run health service, which was undergoing major reforms, largely in response to the coronavirus pandemic, when Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade on Feb. 24.
The World Health Organization said it recorded 445 attacks on hospitals and other health care facilities as of Aug. 11 that directly resulted in 86 deaths and 105 injuries.
But Liashko said the secondary effects were far more severe.
“When roads and bridges have been damaged in areas now controlled by the Ukrainian forces… it is difficult to get someone who had a heart attack or a stroke to the hospital,” he said. “Sometimes, we can’t make it in time, the ambulance can’t get there in time. That’s why war causes many more casualties (than those killed in the fighting). It’s a number that cannot be calculated.”
Two more ships depart from Ukraine
Two more ships left Ukraine’s Black Sea ports on Friday, including one laden with the first Ukrainian wheat to be exported under a UN-brokered deal, Turkey’s defense ministry said.
A total 14 ships have now departed from Ukraine over the past two weeks, following the deal with Russia to allow a resumption of grain exports from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, after they were stalled for five months due to the war.
The agreement, brokered by the United Nations along with Turkey, was reached last month amid fears that the loss of Ukrainian grain supplies would lead to severe food shortages and even outbreaks of famine in parts of the world.
The Belize-flagged Sormovsky left Ukraine’s Chornomorsk port on Friday, Turkey’s defense ministry said, carrying 3,050 tons of wheat to Turkey’s northwestern Tekirdag province.
It was the first shipment of wheat from Ukraine, which, along with Russia, accounted for nearly a third of global wheat exports before Feb. 24, when Moscow launched what it describes as a “special operation” to demilitarise its neighbor.
Ukraine has some 20 million tons of grain left over from last year’s crop, while this year’s wheat harvest is also estimated at 20 million tons.
The Marshall Island-flagged Star Laura also departed from the port of Pivdennyi, bound for Iran with 60,000 tons of corn aboard, the ministry said.
So far most of the cargoes under the deal have carried grain for animal feed or for fuel.
There have yet to be shipments to countries most at risk from the global food crisis, although on Thursday Ukraine said a ship is due to come into port that is scheduled to take grain to Ethiopia.
As part of the UN deal, all ships are inspected in Istanbul by the Joint Coordination Center, where Russia, Ukrainian, Turkish and UN personnel work.
The Razoni, the first ship to depart Ukraine under the deal, docked in Turkey on Thursday and was headed to Egypt on Friday, Refinitiv ship tracker data showed, after its initial buyer in Lebanon refused delivery.
Shipping agent Toros, which managed the Razoni’s offloading in Turkey, said on Thursday that the ship would drop off 1,500 tons of its 26,527-ton load of corn in southern Turkey’s Mersin and the rest of it would go to Egypt.
The Rahmi Yagci, which left Ukraine on Tuesday for Istanbul, was anchored on the northern end of Istanbul’s Bosphorus Strait on Friday, while the Mustafa Necati, which left for Italy on Sunday, was anchored on the southern end.
Four other vessels were approved for travel to Ukraine after being inspected by a JCC team in Istanbul. Turkey’s defense ministry said on Thursday that the ships that arrived in Ukraine were being loaded.
It was not immediately clear when they would leave. The UN has said the number of inbound ships was expected to grow as grain sales are agreed.
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