At least 160 public hospitals were reportedly closed in russia in 2024, including 18 maternity facilities and at least 10 children’s clinics. Russian civilians in small towns and villages have frequently been left with reduced or unavailable medical care as a result of the closures, including now limited pre-hospital services, the UK Defense Intelligence reports.
Russia's prioritization of funding the war in Ukraine has highly likely resulted in insufficient funding for healthcare. This has led to shortages of medical staff, expertise and equipment in the medical system.
Read more: The UK Defense Intelligence Analyzes the Consequences of Ukraine’s Largest UAS Attack on russia
It is almost certain the scale of russian casualties (over 500,000 russian service personnel wounded so far) continues to strain russian military medical system at all levels of medical care, causing significant logistic problems and resulting in a shortage of military medical personnel. This negatively impacts care delivery and has likely led to the diversion of medical resource from domestic civilian population to the military, further contributing to the large-scale impact to civilian hospitals.
The numbers of healthcare professionals in russian hospitals serving the domestic civilian population will likely continue to decrease throughout 2025.
Read more: The UK Defense Intelligence: Moscow’s Focus on Kursk Comes at the Cost of Logistical Vulnerabilities in Pokrovsk
