WHO member states condemn Russian attacks on Ukraine healthcare

WHO member states voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine and its attacks on health facilities, in a renewed show of international support for Kyiv.

Countries meeting at the World Health Organization's annual decision-making assembly in Geneva demanded that Moscow immediately cease all attacks on hospitals.

Member states voted by 80 votes to nine, with 52 abstentions, "to condemn in the strongest terms the Russian Federation's continued aggression against Ukraine, including attacks on health care facilities... as well as widespread attacks on civilians and critical civilian infrastructure".

Besides Russia, the countries voting against the draft resolution included China, North Korea, Syria, Belarus, Cuba and Algeria.

All 27 European Union countries co-sponsored the move, with the exception of Hungary, which was absent from the vote.

The resolution voiced "serious concerns over the continued health emergency in Ukraine and refugee-receiving and -hosting countries, triggered by the Russian Federation's aggression against Ukraine".

These concerns included the wider humanitarian impacts, the "risks of radiological, biological and chemical events and hazards" and the exacerbation of the global food security crisis.

The resolution urged Russia to "immediately cease any attacks on hospitals and other health care facilities" and called for unhindered access to people in need of assistance.

Speaking before the vote, Ukraine's ambassador Yevheniia Filipenko told the World Health Assembly that Russia's invasion in February last year had triggered a "serious health emergency which persists today as Russia continues its daily attacks on critical and civilian infrastructure".

She called on WHO member states to take a "principled stance" and back the resolution, "and reject Russia's attempt to absolve itself of the responsibility for its invasion of Ukraine and the health emergency it triggered".