There are several important developments from the field:
–Medical equipment and supplies for our Emergency Field Hospital in Lviv, Ukraine, were airlifted via three flights (two aboard our DC-8 cargo jet) from North Carolina to Poland on March 4, 8, and 10.
All materials have been unloaded, and most have been transported to Ukraine. The field hospital is being set up and soon should be ready to receive patients. Work is going well.
–Samaritan’s Purse is now operating a medical stabilization point outside a train station in Lviv. Many desperate people fleeing the fighting need medical attention of all kinds.
–We are also operating a mobile medical unit in Moldova at a large stadium that has been hosting up to 1,000 Ukrainian refugees at a time. We can see approximately 50 patients per day.
Several hundred thousand refugees have entered Moldova, a southern neighbor to Ukraine, since fighting began and many remain there.
–Hygiene kits continue to be distributed to refugee families in Moldova.
–Refugee numbers now exceed 2.5 million.
What we’re seeing at the train station clinic is heartbreaking. Here is just a glimpse of who we are treating:
–A group of nine, three families fleeing together, comes in from Dnipro, a central-eastern city of Ukraine recently targeted by air strikes for the first time. One mom has tears flowing down her red cheeks; her 8-year-old son holds her hand gently. When the lights go off, she panics. One of our doctors assures her that she is safe. Families say they have no idea where they’ll go next. Later, the mom says, “I am so happy we have found you.” One of our doctors replies, “Any of us could be in your position. We’re only doing what Jesus wants us to do, because He loves you.”
–Mom comes in with 11-day-old baby. The child isn’t moving or crying. They get warm in tent, and mother is given nourishment. Baby starts moving. Still staring off without a sound.
–An older woman arrives escaping bombardment. She has a brain tumor and can barely see.
–A man comes in with shrapnel wounds and a bullet in his leg. He has been delivering medicine back and forth between Kyiv.
Please pray for an end to the crisis in Ukraine even as the conflict continues to spread, and remember our brothers and sisters in Christ across the region. Pray for peace. Please also pray for the safety, strength, and boldness of all our teams—more than 90 personnel—in Central and Eastern Europe.
Your support enables Samaritan’s Purse to share the love of Jesus by providing assistance to people impacted by the Russia/Ukraine conflict.