kyiv is observing a day of mourning on Tuesday after Russian strikes left more than 30 dead and devastated Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital, with the toll likely rise as searches continue through the rubble.
The attack on the Okhmatdyt hospital has caused shock in the country, which has been suffering Russian bombing for more than two years, and among its allies.
“Intentionally launching attacks against a protected hospital [par le droit international, NDLR] “This is a war crime,” UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Joyce Msuya said on Tuesday.
She noted “a worrying trend of systematic attacks on health facilities and other civilian infrastructure across Ukraine” during an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council called at Ukraine’s request.
President Volodymyr Zelensky reported this morning that there were around forty dead across the whole of Ukraine, which suffered a massive attack the day before involving around forty Russian missiles.
He later announced that he had arrived in Washington to attend a major NATO summit where he would demand more weapons for his country.
“We are fighting to get more air defenses” and “more F-16 aircraft,” which are expected to be delivered to Ukraine soon, he added.
“Rebuild”
Ukraine, whose energy infrastructure is already ravaged, continues to demand more air defenses from its Western allies.
At least 33 people, including four children, were killed in its capital, where Russian missiles and their debris hit, in addition to the hospital, a private clinic and residential buildings in several neighborhoods, according to the latest official report.
At least 12 people, including four children, were killed in a residential building in the Syrets district (west), according to Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
Seven people – five health workers and two patients – died in a bombing of the private Adonis clinic in the east of the city.
At Okhmatdyt hospital, two adults – a female doctor and a visitor – were killed and 32 were injured, authorities said.
“We will rebuild Okhmatdyt, I am in contact with the government” on this subject, promised Volodymyr Zelensky. Several dozen Ukrainian companies have also announced donations for the work.
Of the approximately 630 patients who were being treated at the children’s hospital, 94 were transferred to other facilities in the capital, more than 465 had to return home and 68 remained in buildings that were not affected by the attack, the Health Ministry said.
“Direct shot”
The city hall declared a day of mourning in kyiv, with flags flying at half-mast.
“On this day of mourning for the innocent victims of our capital and other cities of Ukraine, I bow to the hearts of all Ukrainian people,” said Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrsky.
Ukraine claimed that the strike on the children’s hospital was carried out by a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile fired from a bomber.
Russia, which has systematically denied any crime or blunder since the beginning of its invasion, has for its part called into question the Ukrainian anti-aircraft defense, assuring, as always, never to “strike civilian targets.”
The representative of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Ukraine, Danielle Bell, considered it “highly probable” that this establishment was hit by “a direct hit” from a Russian missile, also mentioning a Kh-101 type projectile.
“Analysis of video footage and assessment at the scene of the incident indicate that it is highly likely that the children’s hospital suffered a direct hit rather than damage from an intercepted weapon system,” Mr.me Bell during a press briefing in Geneva.
Russian attacks on Ukraine continued on Monday night, with two people injured in the Kherson region and three others in the Zaporizhzhia region, both in the south.