Russia’s Ruthless Missile Barrage on Ukraine: Dozens Dead, Hospitals and Schools Hit
On Monday, Russia launched a missile barrage against several Ukrainian cities, killing over three dozen people and severely damaging a children’s hospital in Kyiv. This act has been widely condemned as a ruthless attack on civilians.
Volunteers, including hospital staff and rescue workers, frantically searched through the debris at the Okhmatdyt paediatric hospital to find survivors following the rare daytime assault, as observed by AFP journalists on the ground.
President Volodymyr Zelensky reported that Russia targeted five towns and cities in southern and eastern Ukraine, as well as the capital, with dozens of missiles.
The assault resulted in at least 37 deaths, including three children, and injured over 170 people, according to Zelensky. The strikes also caused extensive damage to nearly 100 buildings, including multiple schools and a maternity hospital.
Ukraine’s air force reported that air defense systems successfully intercepted 30 of the incoming missiles.
Zelensky emphasized the necessity of shooting down Russian missiles, destroying Russian combat aircraft at their bases, and taking decisive actions to eliminate security threats, ahead of a NATO summit focused on bolstering Ukraine’s air defenses.
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Zelensky called for an urgent United Nations Security Council meeting and urged Ukraine’s allies to provide a stronger response to Russia’s aggression.
In response to the strikes, U.S. President Joe Biden promised new measures to enhance Ukraine’s air defenses, ensuring protection for cities and civilians from Russian attacks.
UN rights chief Volker Turk condemned the Russian strikes as “abominable,” while UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, through his spokesman Stephane Dujarric, labeled the attacks on medical facilities as “particularly shocking.”
The United States denounced the strikes as “another savage missile attack on civilians,” and the European Union criticized Moscow for its “ruthless” actions. France’s foreign ministry called the attack on the children’s hospital “barbaric,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described it as “abhorrent,” and Japan’s government spokesman strongly condemned the strike.
Kyiv officials reported that the children’s hospital was hit by a Russian cruise missile containing components produced in NATO member countries and declared a day of mourning in the capital.
Russia claimed that the extensive missile damage in Kyiv was due to Ukrainian air defense systems and asserted that their forces had targeted only defense industry and military installations.
Medical staff at the hospital quickly relocated patients and personnel to the facility’s basement after air raid sirens sounded across Kyiv on Monday. Nina, a 68-year-old hospital employee, expressed disbelief at the attack, believing the hospital was protected and describing the frantic efforts to move children with IV drips to safety.
The attack also damaged several residential buildings and an office block in Kyiv, where AFP reporters witnessed cars on fire and trees shredded in charred courtyards.
DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy company, reported that three of its electrical substations in Kyiv were destroyed or damaged. Recent Russian strikes on energy infrastructure have halved Ukraine’s power generation capacity compared to the previous year.
Russian forces have consistently targeted the capital with heavy bombardments since the invasion began in February 2022, with the last significant attack on Kyiv occurring last month.
The emergency services reported 22 fatalities in Kyiv on Monday, including those at the affected medical facilities, and another 72 injured.
In Kryvyi Rig, Zelensky’s hometown, repeated Russian bombardments resulted in at least 10 deaths and over 41 injuries, according to local officials.
In Dnipro, one person was killed and six others wounded when a high-rise residential building and petrol station were hit, the region’s governor reported.
In the eastern Donetsk region, where Russian forces have recently captured several villages, three people were killed in Pokrovsk, a town with a pre-war population of around 60,000.
Andriy Yermak, head of Ukraine’s presidential administration, emphasized on social media that the shelling targeted civilians and infrastructure, calling for a forceful response to the acts of terror.
Zelensky and other Kyiv officials have been urging allies to send more air defense systems, including Patriots, to help counter the deadly Russian aerial assaults.
Zelensky reiterated that Russia cannot plead ignorance of where its missiles are landing and must be held fully accountable for its crimes.
Russia’s Ruthless Missile Barrage on Ukraine: Dozens Dead, Hospitals and Schools Hit
