Field Mission in Ukraine: The Regions of Kharkiv, Dnipro, Kyiv, and Poltava – Autumn 2023
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by
Bohdan Burko
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The Kharkiv Region
The field mission in Ukraine, conducted in September 2023, had several key objectives, including:
– Strengthening institutional ties and assessing the needs of medical and social structures.
– Verifying the effective use of received aid.
– Studying the operations of new functional rehabilitation centers.
– Launching projects aimed at restoring access to drinking water.
The Kharkiv Region stands out for its courage and resilience, both in the face of daily bombardments and the humanitarian challenges caused by the war. The regional and municipal councils, aware of the scale of the needs, welcome international aid, understanding that Ukrainian resources alone cannot meet these monumental challenges.
Our missions in Kharkiv are always intense and emotionally charged. The Zolochiv Hromada, close to the Russian border, is regularly bombarded. The hospital, which has been targeted multiple times, bears witness to the devastation of the war, as does a school whose wing was destroyed by a missile. Residential buildings ravaged by bombings and damaged water towers are all signs of the community’s urgent needs.
The mayor of Lozova faces multiple emergencies, including the relocation of a psychiatric hospital that was moved to the Dnipro region at the start of the war and returned 1.5 years later. Its former building was destroyed by a missile, and the patients now live in a previously abandoned building that requires extensive renovation. The city is also seeking solutions for an alternative water supply system to address water shortages affecting part of the population. Since the beginning of the war, we have been providing ongoing assistance to these hospitals with medications and medical supplies.
In Dergachi, the administration is preparing the town for winter, and the central hospital hopes to avoid prolonged power outages by relying on installed generators.
In Kharkiv, we visited several hospitals, the Regional Blood Transfusion Center, the Emergency Medicine Center, and the Interregional Medical Genetics Center. We also visited two functional rehabilitation centers, a school set up in metro stations, and an extracurricular activity center located underground.
The Kharkiv region remains a permanent beneficiary of our aid, supporting its medical, social, and educational institutions, as well as emergency medical services and humanitarian demining efforts.
In Kyiv, we visited several functional rehabilitation centers and a hospital. The opening of these centers, essential for meeting the growing needs of the wounded during wartime, represents a major challenge for the Ukrainian Ministry of Health.
While private initiatives are crucial for reinforcement, they may face difficulties in maintaining adequate funding, especially when attempting to create a parallel network of rehabilitation centers alongside the institutional system. Finding a balance is crucial to avoid the closure of these centers if a donor withdraws support.
We also noted the financial difficulties of one hospital, mainly due to its inability to secure enough healthcare contracts with the National Health Service of Ukraine (NSZU). The hospital currently relies on private donors and NGOs to sustain its operations, a situation we hope will be temporary.
The Dnipro Region
The delivery of 16 industrial generators to hospitals and local medical-social structures was marked by cordial exchanges with the Dnipro Regional Council team and the heads of the beneficiary institutions. The mission then extended to localities affected by bombings and the water shortage following the explosion of the Kakhovka dam. Marganets, Nikopol, Kryvyi Rih: cities in search of urgent solutions. Deprived of access to water from the Dnipro River, previously supplied from the Kakhovka reservoir, the construction of a large alternative water network is underway. However, the situation also requires decentralized solutions to ensure a secure supply of drinking water.
Marganets, named after “manganese,” a mineral abundantly extracted in the region, has restored its water supply thanks to a pumping station near a small reservoir.
This water, highly mineralized and non-potable, is used for technical purposes. Boreholes over 100 meters deep have been drilled near residential buildings and could provide drinking water with the proper filtration systems. AMCFU is studying the installation of four reverse osmosis filtration systems, and assistance with equipment and medications has been promised to local hospitals. Nikopol, another industrial city, endures daily bombardments. With the water supply from the Kakhovka reservoir compromised, the city is forced to draw water from the Dnipro River, which is exposed to enemy fire. The water supply networks are severely damaged, necessitating the installation of submerged pumps and filtration stations. Our commitment is to support Nikopol with filtration systems, submerged pumps, medications, and medical equipment. Kryvyi Rih, an industrial city with a population of 600,000, has implemented alternative water supply systems, including pumping non-potable water from the Kressiv reservoir. Our visit focused on chlorination units in the surrounding villages to strengthen the water circuit’s disinfection process.
Meetings were held with the Regional Social Services Center and the Department of Health in Poltava. The visit included two hospitals and a humanitarian warehouse managed by the administration, which supplies not only the 200,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Poltava but also other regions during humanitarian emergencies (for example, after the Kakhovka dam explosion, interregional aid was organized to assist the Kherson region).
The discussions focused on needs and priorities, with hygiene products already provided for the displaced persons and planned support for the local hospitals.
