As hundreds of thousands of people are forced to escape the conflict in Ukraine, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is working to set up emergency response activities in the country and dispatching teams to Poland, Moldova, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia. Teams are also ready to respond in Russia and Belarus.
In the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, MSF teams have distributed medical kits to treat war-wounded people. We have also provided a telemedicine training for trauma care for 30 surgeons from eastern Ukraine.
Our emergency teams have arrived at the Polish-Ukrainian border and are currently trying to get essential staff and supplies into Ukraine and set up emergency response activities across both sides of the border. Teams will also carry out assessments along Ukraine’s border with Russia and Belarus.
With active fighting ongoing, determining the true extent of medical needs in Ukraine remains challenging. MSF is preparing for a range of scenarios that will allow us to step up our response.
Our teams at the Ukraine-Poland border checkpoints are seeing people cross over on foot, in cars, and on buses—many of them tired and exhausted, and some with children as young as 25 days old.
Many of those crossing the Polish border told us they spent long hours waiting in lines in freezing temperatures. Some were dehydrated and others suffered from hypothermia. We have donated basic shelter items to a reception shelter in Poland and are working to step up our response.
