Poland becomes main hub for treating wounded Ukrainians after 2022 invasion

After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, hospitals near the front and in besieged cities struggled to cope with war casualties, while the care of patients with cancer, chronic illness and other serious conditions was also disrupted.

Poland, which shares a long border with Ukraine, quickly became the main hub for medical evacuations. Seriously wounded and sick Ukrainians were moved across the border, including by specially equipped medical trains, and admitted to Polish hospitals. By early March 2022 these transfers had become routine.

For many patients Poland was a transit point. From Polish airports, such as Rzeszów in the south-east, patients were flown on to hospitals in other European countries that had offered beds, coordinated through European Union mechanisms and national health authorities.

The system mattered because it relieved pressure on Ukrainian hospitals and gave badly injured people access to specialist care that could not be provided at home. It also set the pattern for later evacuation efforts, which relied on the same border crossings and Polish logistics.