Vital oxygen supplies to treat patients ill with Covid and other critical illnesses, including war injuries, are dangerously low in Ukraine.
The World Health Organization says trucks have been unable to haul supplies from plants to hospitals in the country, including the capital Kyiv.
And stocks could run out within the next 24 hours.
WHO is working with partners to move urgent shipments through Poland.
“The oxygen supply situation is approaching a very dangerous point,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge.
“Some [hospitals] have already expired.
“This puts thousands of lives at risk.”
An estimated 1,700 patients admitted to hospital in Ukraine for Covid will likely need oxygen treatment.
But it’s also needed for a number of other conditions, including childbirth.
The WHO says several manufacturing plants in Ukraine are also facing shortages of zeolite – a key, mainly imported chemical product needed to produce safe medical oxygen.
Hospital supply is also threatened by electricity and power shortages.
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