Ukraine, Oct. 2 -- As Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine nears its fourth year, fighting is intensifying, leaving communities near the front line in the Dnipropetrovsk region with little or no access to health care. Roads used for evacuation are frequently targeted, towns are reduced to rubble, and civilian casualties have sharply increased in 2025.

A strike in Pokrovske on September 29 illustrates the danger: Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) teams were treating patients in the nearest hospital's intensive care unit when the building shook from the explosions. Eight wounded people arrived with shrapnel injuries, limb trauma, and traumatic brain injuries, and were stabilized on site. "This is what people are fle...