Okhmatdyt hospital, the main treatment centre in Ukraine for children with cancer, has suffered a direct missile hit.
Ihor Klymenko, Ukraine’s Interior Minister, disclosed that five people had been confirmed dead in the attack on the children’s hospital located in Kyiv and that at least four more had been injured.
An unknown number of people have also been trapped under rubble after the hospital was hit in a daylight Russian missile barrage that the authorities said had killed people across the country.
The strike largely destroyed the hospital’s toxicology ward, prompting hundreds of rescue workers and volunteers to clear the debris and search for survivors.
Officials and emergency staff said it was not immediately clear how many doctors and patients remained trapped under the rubble.
“We are extracting whoever we can. We don’t know the number of people trapped there,” Viktor Liashko, the country’s Health Minister, stated outside the hospital.
Kyiv’s Mayor, Vitali Klitschko, stated that the attack on the capital was one of the heaviest since Russia’s invasion began more than two years ago.
Thanks to western-supplied defences, the city had experienced a relatively peaceful period before Monday’s strike.
Strikes were also reported in other parts of the country.
According to Oleksandr Vilkul, the Mayor, in Kryvyi Rih, hometown of Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, 10 people were killed and 31 were injured.
Ukrainian officials said that in total, at least 29 people across the country were killed.
Russia, which has targeted civilian infrastructure throughout the war, denied responsibility for deaths on Monday.
In a statement, the country’s defence ministry attributed the incident, without directly referencing the hospital blast, to Ukrainian anti-aircraft missiles.
Zelenskyy vowed retaliation.
“Russia cannot be unaware of where its missiles are landing and must be held fully accountable for all its crimes: against individuals, against children, and against humanity as a whole” Zelenskiy posted on the Telegram messaging app.
“Ukraine would initiate a meeting of the United Nations’ security country following the strike,” he said.
Missile Attack Condemned
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) strongly condemned the attack in Kyiv.
Dr Marko Isajlovic, IRC health coordinator in Ukraine, said, “No child should grow up under the threat of missile strikes.”
“No child should risk dying amidst the rubble of hospitals meant to be safe havens for healing and recovery. Health facilities are protected under international law and must remain out of harm’s way in times of conflict,” he added.
“Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the WHO has recorded nearly 1,700 attacks on healthcare facilities in Ukraine. Our medical teams witness the daily toll of fighting on people who are unable to seek much needed care in hospitals reduced to rubble, reach the nearest pharmacy due to ongoing fighting, or simply afford much-needed medicines.”
Marko Isajlovic
The UN also condemned Monday’s wave of deadly Russian strikes across Ukraine, including on Kyiv, saying “dozens of people have been killed and injured”.
“The week in Ukraine has started with another wave of deadly strikes by the Russian armed forces,” Denise Brown, humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, said in a statement.
“It is unconscionable that children are killed and injured in this war. Under international humanitarian law, hospitals have special protection. Civilians must be protected,” she added.
Additionally, Italian Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani called for international condemnation of Russia.
“I am struck by the images of the bombings in Kyiv which also hit a children’s hospital. War crimes that must be condemned by the entire international community,” Tajani posted on X.
Tajani added, “The [Italian] Government will continue to defend the sovereignty of Ukraine and its people.”
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