Russia launched a massive attack on Ukrainian cities on Monday, firing more than 40 missiles, killing at least 20 people and hitting a children’s hospital, authorities in kyiv said.
“Russian terrorists have again heavily attacked Ukraine with missiles. Different cities: kyiv, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rig, Sloviansk, Kramatorsk. More than 40 missiles of different types. Residential buildings, infrastructure and a children’s hospital were damaged,” Volodymyr Zelensky reacted on Telegram.
The toll of these strikes in the Ukrainian depths grew heavier in the morning.
In Kryvyi Rig, in the centre of the country, the mayor announced that at least 10 people had been killed and 31 wounded in strikes that hit a factory, among other places. In kyiv, local authorities reported at least seven dead.
“One of the most important children’s hospitals in Europe” was damaged in kyiv, “there are people under the rubble and the exact number of victims is still unknown,” the Ukrainian president said on X, posting a video of the damaged building.
“Russia cannot claim that it does not know where its missiles are falling and must be held fully responsible for all its crimes,” he added.
On site, an AFP journalist noted that the road leading to the hospital was partially blocked by the police, and patients and nurses in uniform had gathered in the hospital grounds, next to the destroyed building.
“It is very important that the world does not remain silent and that everyone sees what Russia is doing,” Zelensky said, ahead of a major NATO summit in Washington and a visit to Moscow by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
NATO Summit in Washington
Near the front line, in the Donetsk region, Ukrainian authorities announced that “at least three people died in Pokrovsk” after the morning strikes, which also hit a factory, according to the regional governor, Vadym Filachkin.
Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said the Russians fired “cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, as well as Kinjal” air-to-ground missiles.
The Polish army also said on X that “the long-range aviation of the Russian Federation has started firing missiles at Ukraine again.” Poland, which borders Ukraine, is one of kyiv’s supporters.
The Russian military regularly strikes deep into Ukraine, targeting infrastructure such as energy production centers and factories, and killing civilians in a strategy aimed at undermining Ukrainian morale. Ukraine defends its territory with a limited number of air defense systems and munitions, and demands more from its Western allies.
The strikes come as the Russian army has been gaining ground on the eastern front line for months and is trying to take advantage of the Ukrainian army’s difficulties in replenishing its ranks and obtaining more weapons and ammunition from the West.
The attacks also come on the eve of a major NATO summit in Washington, where the alliance’s support for Kiev will be discussed in detail, as well as the uncertainties surrounding the upcoming US elections and Donald Trump’s possible victory.
The latter has repeatedly said that he would end the war within a very short time, which implicitly would be to the detriment of Ukrainian positions resisting the Russian invasion.
Volodymyr Zelensky is expected in Warsaw on Monday, before heading to the Washington summit.
At the same time, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected in Moscow on Monday evening. This traditional ally of Moscow has not explicitly condemned the Russian attack on Ukraine in 2022 and abstains from voting on UN resolutions against Moscow.
In addition to the missile victims, five people were killed when their car hit a mine on a forest road in the Kharkiv region — a man, two women and two very young children — local authorities said, claiming the mine had been planted by the Russians.