Ukraine Allocates $7.8M to Repair Shelters in Maternity Hospitals

Ukraine’s government is allocating Hr. 354.6 million ($7.8 million) on repairing shelters in maternity hospitals amid near-daily Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure. Hr. 294.8 million ($6.5 million), reallocated within the Health Ministry’s budget, will go toward shelter repair at 84 maternity hospitals and wards, Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi said on Friday, Oct. 30. The shelters will be adapted to the needs of pregnant women, new mothers and newborns, with heating, lighting, running water and proper ventilation.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. The aim is to ensure that doctors can continue delivering children and caring for mothers and infants even during air raid alerts, Koretskyi said, adding that shelters must be safely accessible to women with limited mobility as well. At the time of the report it was not specified which hospitals or cities the funds are intended for. Reinforcing critical hospital units The remaining Hr. 59.8 million ($1.3 million) will fund additional protection for facilities with inpatient departments, including intensive care units, operating rooms, neonatal intensive care units and delivery rooms. The measures include installing gabions, metal roller shutters and impact-resistant film on windows in order to shield patients and staff from possible blast and debris. The move comes as Ukraine seeks to keep daily life and the economy running as normally as possible despite the war. New rules for medical facilities Koretsky’s government had already imposed new rules for hospitals in September, as a response to Russia’s increasingly changing attack tactics. Other Topics of Interest Ukraine Requests Emergency UN Security Council Meeting Over Russian Strikes Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha reiterated that Russia is using its permanent seat on the Security Council to block the body from fulfilling its mandate. Life-saving procedures, such as surgery, resuscitation and intensive care, are now to be performed even during a red-level air threat, when patients and medical personnel must otherwise move to shelters immediately. “Emergency medical services will operate without interruption. Patients with urgent conditions will be admitted regardless of the threat level,” Koretskyi said on Sept. 21. Under a yellow-level alert, medical facilities will continue operating, but must provide employees, patients and visitors with unrestricted access to shelters. Around the same time, Russia struck a Kyiv maternity hospital as the capital was targeted with ballistic missiles. President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the hospital at the time, meeting medical staff, expectant mothers and the mother of a baby boy born during the overnight attack. “Each of you deserves to give birth to your child in peace, without sirens or explosions. And every newborn deserves to begin life in peace. We are doing everything to make this happen as soon as possible,” he said. Only a month later, on Oct. 20, Russian forces struck an operating room in Kyiv’s Strazhesko Institute of Cardiology, injuring a patient. The strike marked the second time Russia targeted the heart center that serves patients nationwide, after a September 2025 strike killed two people there. Earlier on Friday, Ukraine requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council over Russia’s latest wave of missile and drone attacks that left at least 25 civilians dead and 110 wounded nationwide. Although deliberate attacks on civilian infrastructure are prohibited under international law, strikes on civilians across Ukraine continue near-daily, including those on children and medical facilities. On Thursday, a Russian guided aerial bomb (KAB) strike on Izium killed five employees of a local healthcare institution. Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 90% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.