Ukraine Says 18 Medics Have Been Killed And Hundreds Of Facilities Damaged Since Russian Invasion

The building in Ukraine was destroyed by the Russian attack. (Wikimedia Commons/State Emergency Service of Ukraine)

JAKARTA - Ukraine's Health Ministry said at least 18 medical personnel were killed and nearly 900 medical facilities damaged or destroyed as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

In a Facebook post, the health ministry said more than 50 medical workers had been injured by Russian strikes since February 24, when Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine in the biggest European war since 1945.

The post also revealed that some 123 medical facilities in Ukraine were completely destroyed by the invasion, while another 746 needed repairs.

Meanwhile, Russia denies deliberately targeting civilians or medical workers, and says it is carrying out a "special military operation" in Ukraine against nationalists.

Kyiv says the Kremlin is using "terrorism" to bully Ukraine into a shameful peace deal.

As previously reported, the United Nations Human Rights Council passed a resolution to launch an investigation into possible war crimes by Russian troops in the Kyiv region and beyond on Thursday, a move Russia said amounted to a political settlement.

In a vote last May, 33 supported and only two rejected a resolution ordering the Commission of Inquiry to investigate events in the area around Kyiv and other areas such as Sumy, temporarily occupied by Russian troops.

At the same session, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, said there were many examples of possible war crimes since the Russian invasion, saying that so far 1,000 bodies had been found in the Kyiv region.

"The scale of the extrajudicial killings, including indications of brief executions in northern Kyiv, is staggering," he said.