Russian forces have struck an out-of-service medical facility in the centre of the city of Sloviansk. The building is an architectural monument dating back to the early 20 th century.
Source: Vadym Liakh , Head of the Sloviansk City Military Administration; Slovianski Vidomosti newspaper
Quote: "This is what the old building of the Sloviansk hospital looks like after today's strike. The building is an architectural monument. People's lives have been saved here since the very beginning of the 20 th century." Destroyed monument Photo: Vadym Liakh on Facebook
Details: He said that other hospital buildings and houses had also been damaged.
This is not the first time the building has suffered from strikes. Russian forces previously hit the facility on 21 September. The strike hit the surgical building of City Clinical Hospital No. 1, which also housed the anaesthesiology and intensive care unit.
The building is an architectural monument of local significance. Although the building is dated 1901 in the official list of monuments of Donetsk Oblast, according to research by Sloviansk local historian Ihor Hulko, the opening of the new hospital took place in February 1909, the Slovianski Vidomosti newspaper writes.
The red-brick structure was distinguished by a unique architectural style with distinctive arched windows, columns and detailed decorative brickwork. The building survived the First and Second World Wars.
The hospital's construction is associated with the name of Avksentii Shnurkov, a Sloviansk businessman and philanthropist of the early 20 th century.
During the Soviet and later periods, the building was used as the surgical department of the city hospital.
In 2016, the facility was re-registered as the Sloviansk City Clinical Hospital. In 2018, it was transformed into a municipal non-profit facility.
The media outlet noted that some local history publications report that a military hospital operated in the old building during the Second World War, and after the hospital's reorganisation, the surgical department remained in the old building.
Read also: Russian attack damages Kherson local history museum and World War II-era howitzer
Subscribe onPatreonto back our journalism long-term.