Russian attack kills dozens at children’s hospital in Ukraine

A children’s hospital in Kyiv was hit after Russia launched a wave of missile attacks on cities across Ukraine.

Two people died when the Ohmatdyt Children’s Hospital – the largest children’s hospital in Ukraine – was badly damaged in the explosion.

President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak said on Monday that 36 people were killed and 140 injured in the attacks.

Russia denied attacking the hospital and said it was hit by shrapnel from a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile. Ukraine said it had found remnants of a Russian cruise missile.

Lesia Lysytsia, a doctor at the hospital, told the BBC that the moment the missile hit was “like in a movie”, with “a big light, then a terrible noise”.

“Part of the hospital was destroyed and there was a fire in another part. There was really serious damage – maybe 60 to 70 percent of the hospital,” she said.

Images from the scene showed small children, some with IV drips, sitting outside the hospital during the evacuation.

Vitali Klitschko, Kyiv’s mayor, said the two people who died in hospital were adults, one of them a doctor. He added that rescue workers feared more people were trapped under the rubble.

Ohmatdyt is a large hospital that provides cancer treatment and organ transplants.

“Now we are in the process of evacuating patients to the nearest hospital. (But) many patients are intubated and on ventilators and are not allowed to have contact with other patients or go outside,” said Dr. Lysytsia.

Hospital staff told Ukrainian television that about 20 children had been treated in the affected ward.

Following the strike, Ukrainian tennis player Elina Svitolina wore a black ribbon as a sign of respect as she played in the round of 16 at Wimbledon on Monday afternoon.

Mayor Klitschko accused Russia of attempting “genocide against the population of Ukraine.”

“The whole world can see how Russian missiles and kamikaze drones are killing Ukrainian citizens in our peaceful city.”

The mayor added that a maternity hospital in Kyiv’s Dniprovsky district had also been partially destroyed by falling debris, killing seven people.

Mr Zelensky wrote on social media that “more than 40 rockets of different types” had hit buildings and infrastructure in cities such as Kyiv, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.

He called for a stronger response from the West “to the blow that Russia has once again dealt to our people, our country and our children.”

Dnipro regional head Sergiy Lysak said one person was killed and six others injured in the city of Dnipro, adding that a high-rise building and a shop were hit.

Three people were killed in Pokrovsk in the eastern Donetsk region, where Russian forces had taken control of several villages in recent weeks.

The Russian bombing comes as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a two-day state visit to Moscow, where he is scheduled to hold talks with President Vladimir Putin.

The Security Service of Ukraine has released images of alleged wreckage of a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile recovered at the site.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov responded to the attacks by calling on the country’s allies to help quickly strengthen air defenses.

“Our defense capabilities are still inadequate… We need more air defense systems,” he said.

Ukraine’s allies have condemned the attack on Ohmatdyt Hospital. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell accused Russia of “recklessly attacking Ukrainian civilians.”

New British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: “We must hold those responsible for Putin’s illegal war to account.”

UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the attacks in the strongest possible terms, said his spokesman Stephane Dujarric. He added that he found the attack on the children’s hospital and another medical facility “particularly shocking.”

“Attacks against civilians and civilian objects are prohibited under international humanitarian law. Any such attacks are unacceptable and must stop immediately,” he said.

The UN human rights mission in Ukraine has said that civilian casualties have risen in recent months as Russia has resumed air strikes. A recent report said May was the month with the highest number of civilian deaths in nearly a year.