KIEV, August 4 (RIA Novosti) – More than 1,700 people, including 1,288 children from Ukraine’s southeastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk have been hospitalized since March 2014, the press service of Ukraine’s Healthcare Ministry said in a statement Monday.
“As of August 4, 7,530 people, including 6,207 children from Luhansk and Donetsk had asked for medical assistance, with 1,706 people, including 1,288 children, hospitalized; 126 babies were born,” the statement said.
The humanitarian situation in Ukraine’s southeastern region of Donbas has been a matter of concern for Russia’s human rights advocates since the beginning of the conflict.
Numerous child deaths in the violence-plagued regions have been reported since mid-April, when Kiev launched a special military operation to suppress independence supporters in southeastern region of Donbas.
With the escalation of violence, the number of Ukrainian refugees fleeing to Russia, especially to Rostov Region, which borders Ukraine, has been growing.
On June 21, a bus with children was shelled at the Russian-Ukrainian border as it attempted to enter Rostov Region.
In mid-July, Ukrainian human rights ombudswoman Valeria Lutkovskaya’s demanded the closing of the border for Ukrainian orphans, despite reports of orphanages in the combat zone being hit by Ukrainian Army shelling, killing and injuring children.
Russia has repeatedly urged for the establishment of humanitarian corridors to evacuate children from the violence-afflicted region and provide them with qualified medical treatment.
