Kyiv, July 10, 2024 – The Italian Ambassador to Ukraine, Carlo Formosa, visited the “Okhmatdyt” Pediatric Hospital in Kyiv, which was severely damaged by Russian bombings on the Ukrainian capital. The Head of Mission was accompanied by staff from the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) in Kyiv and humanitarian workers from the Italian organization Soleterre.
During his visit to personally assess the significant damage suffered by the facility, where the attack resulted in two fatalities and thirty-two injuries, the Ambassador met with General Director Volodymyr Zhovnir, Medical Director Serghiy Chernyshuk, and the hospital staff. The Head of Mission conveyed Italy’s solidarity with the victims and the terrible devastation and expressed the country’s readiness to contribute to the emergency response and the reconstruction of the clinic, building on the projects the hospital is already benefiting from within the framework of Italian Cooperation support.
The hospital, which treats over 20,000 children annually and provides consultations to more than 65,000 patients, represents one of the focal points of Italian Cooperation’s efforts in Ukraine. At the “Okhmatdyt” Hospital, the Italian civil society organization (CSO) Soleterre – in collaboration with the local partner Zaporuka Foundation – was working on the construction of a new physical rehabilitation ward with twenty beds through a project funded with €100,000 from Italian Cooperation. As part of the same initiative, rehabilitation equipment and consumables worth over €90,000 had also been purchased in recent months, including exercise machines, verticalizers, ceiling lifts, and hydrotherapy equipment for orthosis production. Unfortunately, many of these items were lost or damaged during the attack. Soleterre, with the support of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, has also supported and financed the presence of qualified medical staff both for physical rehabilitation (for the injured or disabled) and for psychological support.
In 2023, thanks to Cooperation funds, through a program implemented by the Italian CSO Terre des Hommes, the same hospital received a donation of hard-to-find medicines in Ukraine to facilitate the care of its young patients.
Both initiatives are part of the calls for CSOs funded by Italian Cooperation, totaling €60.5 million. AICS has been operating in the health sector in Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion: between 2022 and 2024, it launched 24 projects dedicated to health, protection, and the well-being of the population, for a total of over €20 million.
