Russian forces struck an operating room at one of Kyiv’s main heart treatment centers on Tuesday, Oct. 20, injuring one patient, Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi said.
In a statement on Telegram, Koretskyi said the strike hit the sixth floor of the M.D. Strazhesko Institute of Cardiology, where the strike targeted part of the National Academy of Medical Sciences (NAMS). No other casualties were reported, except one person who was wounded and received necessary treatment.
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“The institute saves people with heart disease from all over Ukraine,” Koretskyi said. “Here, they perform surgeries, nurse patients back to health after heart attacks, and give people their lives back.”
At the time of the report, no information was available on when exactly the strike took place or what weapon was used.
The attack was among the latest in a series of Russian attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure. A day prior, a drone strike on a park in Nova Vodolaha, Kharkiv region, killed six people, including an infant just over a year old who was in her stroller at the time of the attack.
Institute targeted for the second time
Tuesday’s attack on the cardiology institute marks the second time it was struck by Russia.
On Sept. 28, 2025, Russia hit the building’s fourth floor during an overnight assault on Kyiv.
At the time, Ukraine’s Ministry of Health reported that two people were killed at the institute and that the damage extended across the third to fifth floors. The facility kept operating after the strike.
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The same overnight attack killed four people across the capital, including a 12-year-old girl, and injured 13, the ministry said.
New protection for hospitals
The strike comes a month after Koretskyi’s government adopted new rules requiring hospitals to keep performing surgeries, intensive care and resuscitation during red-level air alerts, while other patients and medical personnel must otherwise move to shelters immediately.
The rules also ordered additional physical protection for operating rooms, intensive care units, maternity wards and admissions departments. The rules also cover rooms that house backup power and critical medical equipment.
The new two-tier air raid system was imposed due to Russia’s changing attack tactics via constant drone waves. The new system aims to give the public clearer guidance on the level of danger while allowing parts of the economy to keep operating during less severe threats.
Meanwhile, on Oct. 16, Ukraine’s government approved a pilot project to deliver medicine, medical devices, blood samples and donor organs between hospitals through drones.
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