Safety and care in shelters: supporting hospitals in the Sumy Oblast.
Published: Jul 19, 2025 Reading time: 3 minutes Share: Share an articleTreatment in basements. Following the large-scale Russian invasion, this has become the reality for Ukrainian healthcare, particularly in border communities. Hundreds of medical facilities have been hit, making access to intensive and primary care more difficult. However, hospitals keep working. Despite the constant danger, doctors admit and treat patients to the sound of sirens and explosions.
With the support of private donors in the Czech Republic, we continue to provide assistance to medical facilities in the border regions. This time, our photo story comes from hospitals in Konotop and Sumy.
Russian troops advancing in northern Ukraine are only 20 kilometres from Sumy. The regional centre's residents live under constant air raid alerts and tension. Attacks have intensified over the past few months inflicting damage on many local buildings, including the local children's hospital, which treats between 2,000 and 5,000 patients every year.
The hospital employs around 200 medical specialists. Olena brings her three-year-old son Lev for speech therapy sessions. At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, her family evacuated to Germany, but returned home the following year.
“I don't know where I can feel safe right now. But I'd rather be here with my family than be somewhere else, waiting to meet up. I'm here now, but if we have to, we'll leave again,” she says.
When asked what gives her strength in these difficult times, Olena answers without hesitation: “My family and relatives.” Her husband serves in the Armed Forces, so she has to protect her child from drones and missiles.
“When Lev hears explosions, he always says, 'It's ours,'” says Olena.
To protect staff and patients, part of the hospital's shelter has been completely renovated. Now, treatment can be conducted in relative safety.
By summer’s end, we will complete the renovation and furnishing the rest the shelter. Our partners, Première Urgence Internationale, have already delivered equipment to the hospital to improve the quality of medical care.
Konotop
In September 2024, a drone struck just fifty metres from Konotop Hospital, destroying 260 windows.
“It was a massive attack on the entire city. Because it was late at night nobody died,' says hospital director Vasyl Zgonnik.
The 400-bed hospital is Konotop’s main medical facility. It treats around 1,500 patients every month. Immediately after the explosion, we replaced the broken windows in the children's and rehabilitation wards so that the staff could continue their work.
Hanna, 76, is a patient at the hospital. She has lived in Konotop for over fifty years and is currently in hospital with chest and back pain. Her daughter and granddaughter live in the safer city of Ternopil, but Hanna does not want to leave her home.
“There is no shelter in our house. When the alarm sounds, we just pray to God,” she says.
Konotop is 70 kilometres from the Russian border. With attacks intensifying, the city is preparing for any eventuality. Although the future is unpredictable, medical care must be provided. That is why we are helping to rebuild the hospital’s shelter.
These two facilities are just part of our extensive work to support hospitals in Ukraine. Thanks to the initiative and funding of private donors from the Czech Republic, the project has covered a total of 40 medical facilities. This includes large hospitals—that save thousands of lives every month—as well as small facilities that are left to face the challenges of war alone. After all, medical care must be accessible and safe, both far behind the front line and close to it.
