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Category: Ukraine
Four Years Since Russian Invasion, MedGlobal Calls for Protection of Healthcare and Civilians in Ukraine
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 24, 2026
MEDIA CONTACT:
Prapti Ajmera West End Strategy Team
[email protected]| 202-867-5231
Four Years Since Russian Invasion, MedGlobal Calls for Protection of Healthcare and Civilians in Ukraine
On the fourth anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, MedGlobal condemns the continued, systematic attacks on healthcare facilities, energy infrastructure, and first responders.
Four years into the war, civilians across Ukraine continue to face relentless missile and drone strikes that devastate critical infrastructure and healthcare, and place millions at risk. After four years of conflict, violence continues to escalate; last year was the deadliest year in the war for civilians with a 31% rise in civilian casualties from the previous year.
MedGlobal condemns the ongoing use of drones to target civilians and first responders. Last year, there was an alarming 120% rise in civilian casualties from short-range drones. A recent MedGlobal report, Drones and Scalpels: Emergency Medicine in Ukraine and the Future of Drone Warfare, warned drone warfare is causing complex trauma injuries and catastrophic delays in medical evacuations. MedGlobal trains frontline medics to respond to these new dynamics to keep patients alive on the frontlines.
Ukraine accounted for nearly 43 per cent of all attacks on healthcare globally in 2025. During 2025, 561 of the 1,320 attacks on medical facilities, personnel, patients, warehouses, transport and supplies recorded worldwide in the WHO Surveillance System for Attacks on Health Care occurred in Ukraine.
Since the start of the invasion, MedGlobal has worked alongside Ukrainian partners to strengthen emergency preparedness, trauma care, and diagnostic capacity. To date, MedGlobal has:
- Trained more than 4,000 healthcare professionals across 119 hospitals and 15 medical universities in 16 oblasts.
- Trained more than 1,900 Ukrainian first responders, equipping them with practical, field-based skills to make rapid, lifesaving decisions under fire, and instructing them in chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and response protocol.
- Distributed $23 million in medications and medical supplies to over 524 health centers across 20 regions.
- Delivered more than 8,500 mobile clinic consultations in frontline and conflict-affected communities.
“Four years into this full-scale war – characterized by relentless attacks on hospitals and deliberate targeting of first responders — Ukraine continues to stand because its doctors, nurses, and rescuers refuse to stop”, said Oleksandra Kozlovska, MedGlobal Ukraine Country Representative. “Behind these heroes stand our partners and donors, whose support enables MedGlobal to train thousands of medical professionals, strengthen our health system, and ensure that even amid devastation, healing continues and lives are saved.”
On this solemn fourth anniversary, MedGlobal calls for:
- The immediate protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure in line with states’ obligations under International Humanitarian law, including the protection of healthcare facilities, medical personnel, and first responders.
- An immediate halt to “double-tap” attacks — in which a second strike is launched to target first responders and medical personnel arriving at the scene of an initial attack.
- International investigations and accountability for attacks on civilians, including those targeting rescuers and healthcare workers.
- Continued international support to sustain Ukraine’s health system and humanitarian response as it faces extraordinary strain. Last year, Ukraine’s humanitarian response received 63% of the support required. So far in 2026, it is only 14% funded – and the health response is even worse off, only 5% funded at a time when 4.5 million Ukrainians require health assistance from humanitarian actors. Meanwhile, the cost for the recovery and reconstruction of the health system is now estimated at over $23 billion.
“Supporting emergency and pediatric life-saving training is how we protect Ukraine’s children,” said Alicia Bean, Nursing Programs Consultant, Resuscitation and Emergency Response Volunteer. “In medicine we fight for every life, and we’ll continue to stay in that fight with the providers in Ukraine to make sure help arrives ready, fast, and trained to save them.”
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About MedGlobal
MedGlobal is a humanitarian nonprofit organization that provides emergency medical response and health programs to build resilience among vulnerable communities around the world. The organization’s health programs support victims of crisis and conflict, refugees, internally displaced persons, and marginalized communities in disaster-affected and low-resource settings.
Providing Aid and Relief from Ukraine to the US
Dr. Michael Samotowka serves on MedGlobal’s Board of Directors, bringing decades of trauma surgery expertise and humanitarian field experience to the organization’s leadership.
Recognized in the 2026 edition of Circles Magazine and named among the inaugural “20 Really Good People,” Dr. Samotowka exemplifies the spirit of service that defines MedGlobal’s mission — advancing care at home and on the frontlines of crisis.
“Dr. Mike” Providing Aid and Relief from Ukraine to the US
Dr. Michael Samotowka’s story begins in upstate New York and extends across continents, operating rooms, war ambulances, and conflict zones. As a boy, Samotowka was born and raised in Buffalo, where his family lived in a close-knit immigrant community with strong Ukrainian heritage and pride. The United States offered stability and opportunity, yet his cultural roots remained a steady guide that helped shape his sense of service and the compassion that defines his work today.
Now a board-certified trauma surgeon and surgical critical care specialist, Samotowka also serves as a trauma medical director and assistant professor of surgery. In Jacksonville, he consults for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and supports critical access facilities as a staff flight surgeon. His leadership roles at the Cleveland Clinic further established a reputation grounded in clinical excellence. Behind each of these titles is the same purpose that drew him to medicine in the first place: helping people in their most vulnerable moments.
That purpose now carries him back into Ukraine through MedGlobal and the Ukrainian Medical Association of North America. Working in temporary surgical units and field hospitals, he treats severe trauma, infections, amputations, and the cascading complications of warfare. His commitment is strengthened by what he sees in the United States as well.
“People in America are, as a whole, incredibly generous. We care about our own, and we care about others. The work MedGlobal carries out around the world, not just in Ukraine, depends on that generosity.”
“These initiatives are life-changing, truly game-changing programs,” he said. “But no matter how good the mission is, and no matter how strong the team or the intention behind it, without funding, the work simply cannot happen.”
Equally important to him is preparing the next generation of surgeons. Whether teaching surgical residents in the United States or equipping clinicians in Ukraine, he believes that sustainable recovery depends on shared knowledge and strong local leadership. His humanitarian missions focus on both immediate care and mentorship that will support communities long after a crisis ends.
For Samotowka, service is not occasional. It is a lifelong commitment to advancing trauma care, strengthening global health, and honoring the place where his journey began — one patient and one student at a time.
Retired trauma surgeon Dr. Jeffrey Young featured by MedGlobal on training Ukrainian clinicians under wartime conditions
In a feature published by MedAngel, Dr. Jeffrey Young, a retired trauma surgeon from Virginia, traveled to Ukraine to train military and civilian doctors in emergency procedures, sharing decades of experience and adapting techniques under wartime pressure. Young’s work included hands-on training in trauma stabilization and improvisational surgical skills, highlighting how knowledge sharing can boost local medical capacity amid ongoing conflict.
New MedGlobal Report Warns Drone Warfare Demands New Models of Medical Response in Ukraine and Beyond
For Immediate Release:
Media Contact:
Prapti Ajmera, [email protected]
New MedGlobal Report Warns Drone Warfare Demands New Models of Medical Response in Ukraine and Beyond
MedGlobal’s “Drones and Scalpels” Report Details How Attacks on Civilians and First Responders Are Changing Health Responses
A new report released today by the global humanitarian organization MedGlobal reveals how drone warfare in Ukraine is radically transforming emergency medicine, overwhelming health systems, and redefining the future of modern conflict.
The report, Drones and Scalpels: Emergency Medicine in Ukraine and the Future of Drone Warfare, details how the widespread use of drones has pushed medical systems to the brink while forcing unprecedented adaptation under fire. The full report can be viewed here.
Air attacks on civilians in Ukraine more than tripled in 2024, and civilian casualties in 2025 have already surpassed last year’s total. Russia’s growing use of drones in ways that violate international humanitarian law (IHL) is a key driver of this catastrophic harm. Drone attacks account for up to 70% of all casualties by some estimates, with such type of attacks frequently producing complicated trauma injuries. Doctors volunteering with MedGlobal describe high rates of amputations, extensive burns, traumas across multiple parts of the body, and high rates of infection owing to initial contamination and lengthy medical evacuations.
The presence of drones in the sky and repeated attacks on emergency teams have jeopardized traditional medical responses. Attacks on emergency medical services quadrupled in 2024 alone. As a result, evacuations that once took hours are delayed for days or weeks, turning survivable injuries into fatal ones. Delayed care has also fueled an epidemic of antibiotic-resistant infections, now described by doctors as a “silent killer.”
“Ukrainian doctors tell me nearly every patient they see now is injured by drones, often in multiple areas of the body. A single patient may require simultaneous, advanced care for blast injuries, burns, and amputation,” said Dr. Michael Samotowka, MedGlobal board member and volunteer surgeon. “The drone dynamics we see in Ukraine are a stark warning that health responses and medical training worldwide must adapt as drone warfare becomes increasingly common.”
In the face of these challenges, the report shows how Ukraine’s health system is rapidly innovating under pressure – creating mobile clinics, modular health units, underground stabilization points, and medical trains to decentralize care and keep patients alive closer to the front lines. MedGlobal deploys international medical teams to train Ukrainian doctors on the front lines in trauma and surgery, supporting them to perform complex procedures and provide prolonged care until evacuation is possible.
“Drone warfare is transforming the battlefield and rewriting the rules of emergency medicine. Ukraine’s innovative medical response is becoming a blueprint for how health systems must adapt to drone warfare globally,” said Anastasia Moran, MedGlobal advocacy director and the author of the report. “These lessons are not theoretical anymore. They are being written in real time, with real lives at stake.”
MedGlobal teams around the world – from Gaza to Yemen to Sudan – are seeing a rise in drone warfare. MedGlobal warns that without immediate additional investment in frontline medical capacity, trauma training, infection control and mental health services, health systems worldwide will be unprepared for the next phase of warfare.
“The future of warfare is already here,” the report states. “The future of medicine must meet it.”
MedGlobal has partnered directly with over one hundred Ukrainian hospitals to provide trainings on post-operative and nursing care for doctors across the country. Numerous volunteer training missions have helped train Ukrainian medical personnel on emergency response, resuscitation protocols, and response to chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) threats.
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About MedGlobal
MedGlobal is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization providing emergency humanitarian aid and health system strengthening in conflict and disaster-affected regions around the world. Since 2022, MedGlobal has trained more than 4,000 healthcare workers across 119 hospitals and 15 medical universities, distributed $23 million in medical supplies to over 500 health centers, delivered 8,500+ mobile clinic consultations, and expanded trauma, emergency response, mental health, and CBRNE training.