Russia carried out a massive attack on cities in Ukraine on Monday, leaving at least 31 people dead, some in hospitals, sparking outrage among Kiev supporters ahead of a key NATO summit.
These new strikes also raise questions about the state of Ukrainian anti-aircraft defenses, once again put to the test after previous bombings targeting power plants and military airfields.
“Russian terrorists have again heavily attacked Ukraine with missiles. Different cities: kyiv, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rig, Sloviansk, Kramatorsk,” Volodymyr Zelensky reacted on Telegram, according to which “residential buildings, infrastructure and a children’s hospital were damaged.”
In this context, from Warsaw, where he is on a visit, the Ukrainian president then called on the West to provide a “stronger response” to Russia.
The toll of these shots deep into Ukrainian territory is one of the highest in months, reflecting the wear and tear of Ukrainian anti-aircraft defense, which lacks Western systems.
In kyiv, where two medical centers were hit, including a major children’s facility, at least 17 people were dead by midday. Eleven people were also killed in the Dnipropetrovsk region (central-eastern), including 10 in the city of Kryvyi Rig alone, and three more near the front line in the east, in Pokrovsk, according to the various authorities. More than 100 people were injured.
“One of the most important children’s hospitals in Europe,” the one in Okhmatdyt, was damaged in the capital, Mr. Zelensky denounced on X.
“Russia cannot claim that it does not know where its missiles are falling and must be held fully responsible,” he added. According to the Ukrainian security services, two medical workers were killed in the hospital and seven children were injured.
Moscow denies this, claiming that it targeted and hit “military installations” and that the images prove that the damage was caused by Ukrainian anti-aircraft missiles. A theory dismissed by the Ukrainian security services, which claim that the Okhmatdyt hospital was hit by a Kh-101 / X-101 missile, a weapon put into service in 2014.
On the scene, hundreds of people, rescuers, relatives, police officers, rushed to help the victims, clear up, and find their loved ones.
Four people were also killed in another medical center in kyiv, in the Dniprovskii district.
Missile Rain
“It is very important that the world does not remain silent and that everyone sees what Russia is doing,” Zelensky said on the eve of a major NATO summit in Washington and at a time when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in Moscow.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell deplored Russia’s “merciless targeting of Ukrainian civilians”, saying that “Ukraine needs air defence now”.
Paris spoke of “barbaric acts” to be “added to the list of war crimes for which Russia will have to account”, while London denounced a “horrible attack”.
The UN humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, Denise Brown, “strongly condemned” these “senseless” actions by the Russian military.
In total, Ukrainians claim that the Russians fired 38 missiles, 30 of which were shot down.
The Russian military regularly strikes deep inside Ukrainian territory, particularly targeting energy facilities and factories and killing civilians in a strategy that kyiv says is aimed at undermining Ukrainian morale.
Private energy operator DTEK reported on Telegram that three of its power substations had been destroyed or damaged in kyiv. Several industrial sites were affected, according to authorities.
Ukraine has only a limited number of air defense systems and ammunition and is demanding more from its Western allies.
Zelensky in Warsaw before NATO
The strikes come at a time when the Russian army has been gaining ground on the front lines 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.
These attacks also come on the eve of the NATO meeting in the United States, where the support provided by this alliance to kyiv will be widely discussed, as well as the uncertainties posed by the upcoming American elections and the possible victory of Donald Trump.
The latter has repeatedly said that he would end the war very quickly, which would implicitly be to the detriment of the Ukrainians who have been resisting the Russian invasion for almost two and a half years.
Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Warsaw on Monday, ahead of the summit in Washington. He signed a security agreement with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in Moscow. India, a traditional Russian ally, has not explicitly condemned the offensive against Ukraine and abstains from voting on UN resolutions against Russia.