'I ran because I knew I would die': Russian drones target medics in Ukraine

Inna Lytvynenko, a Ukrainian paramedic, said she fled for her life after an FPV drone slammed into her ambulance while she was responding to a wounded woman in Kherson last June. “I panicked. I grabbed my trauma container and started running,” she recalled. “I shouted and screamed. I knew that if I stopped, I would die.” The drone pursued her for roughly ten minutes before veering away, after which police picked her up. However, the “safari hunting” continued as drones struck two additional vehicles arriving to transport the injured woman to hospital. Hours later, a third police vehicle managed to extract her. Earlier this week, President Volodymyr Zelensky called for stronger international pressure on Russia to halt what he described as deliberate “hunting attacks” on civilians. Healthcare facilities and ambulances across Ukraine have faced a rising tide of drone and missile strikes, despite their protected status under the Geneva Conventions. Dr Jarno Habicht, the World Health Organization’s representative in Ukraine, characterized the situation as “a new normality, which should not be the normality.” According to WHO data, 3,118 attacks on medical services have been recorded since the Russian invasion began in February 2022 – an average of two per day. The frequency rose 30% in 2024, following a 20% increase the previous year, and the upward trend is expected to persist. A recent report by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) asserts that Russia systematically and often deliberately targets Ukrainian medical infrastructure. The report describes the pattern as “a sustained signature of the war, rather than an episodic effect of large‑scale offensives.” Last month, Russian missiles struck a hospital in Kherson, severely damaging the building and killing one physician. Hospital manager Olena Tymoshenko told the BBC that the attack was intentional: “It wasn’t just one missile; there were three that hit the hospital within a few minutes of each other. It cannot be an accident.” Moscow frequently employs a “double‑tap” tactic, striking the same location a second time shortly after the first wave, presumably to hit first responders rushing to rescue survivors. During a recent mass aerial assault on Kyiv, seven people died – including a police officer and a volunteer – after a second barrage hit the same site. Russian forces have also struck warehouses belonging to humanitarian organisations. In the last month alone, facilities of three UN agencies, including the WHO, sustained damage from aerial strikes. Habicht noted that the WHO shares the coordinates of its facilities with both Moscow and Kyiv in an effort to shield them from attack. While rockets and drones can be indiscriminate, first‑person‑view (FPV) drones are almost always deliberate, according to Robin Meldrum, MSF’s security coordinator in Ukraine. “A drone pilot can see the target through a live feed from the drone’s camera. When it hits an ambulance, it is on purpose,” he said. Lytvynenko emphasized that she was wearing a single identifier marking her as a medical worker and that her ambulance was clearly marked. “So, she believes the drone operator consciously chose to target them,” the report notes. WHO statistics indicate that ambulance strikes account for about 20% of all attacks on Ukraine’s healthcare system, pointing to a calculated strategy. The cumulative effect has left civilian populations near the front line increasingly cut off from medical care. Many of those remaining are elderly individuals with chronic conditions; without regular medicine and check‑ups, they face a slow decline even if they survive the bombardments. Ambulances may be unable to reach those in need when the risk is too high. Lytvynenko and her colleagues monitor social media for threat warnings. “It’s truly scary,” she said. “Every time we take a patient to hospital, we just pray. These drones can appear from anywhere, they can even get through anti‑drone nets.” In some areas, police are dispatched instead of ambulances. As the operational range of FPV drones expands – with both Ukraine and Russia fielding models capable of longer flights – mobile clinics run by various health organisations have been forced to relocate farther from the front. “Two years ago, we could operate up to 5‑8 km (3.1‑5 miles) from the frontline,” Meldrum explained. “Now we won’t go anywhere within 30 km, and that distance keeps growing.” Over the past 18 months, MSF has suspended regular visits to roughly 80 villages near the front line where it previously provided health services. Recently, the organisation also paused ambulance operations in Sloviansk, a major city in eastern Ukraine. “It doesn’t feel like we’re protected in this environment, and in the way that Russia is conducting the war,” Meldrum said. “We don’t feel that the rules of warfare are being respected.”