Strike in Russian hospitals condemned in UN Security Council – DW – 10.07.2024

The UN Security Council has held an emergency meeting to discuss a wave of Russian air strikes on several Ukrainian cities.

The affected locations also included the Ochmatdyt Children’s Hospital in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

During the emergency meeting, French representative Nicolas de Rivière described the incident as “another entry in a list of war crimes” committed by Russia in Ukraine.

China also expressed concern about the attacks, but did not directly condemn Moscow.

Fighting in Ukraine “has intensified and brutal attacks have occurred from time to time, causing numerous casualties. China is deeply concerned about this,” said China’s deputy UN ambassador Geng Shuang.

Joyce Msuya, acting head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (OCHA), said the attack on Ochmatdyt hospital was part of a “deeply worrying pattern of systematic attacks damaging health care and other civilian infrastructure across Ukraine”.

“The deliberate attack on a protected hospital is a war crime and the perpetrators must be held accountable,” she said.

Russia is a permanent member of the UN body and thus has a right of veto on Security Council resolutions. The other permanent members are China, France, Great Britain and the United States.

Also on Tuesday, a UN human rights mission said there was a “high probability” that the children’s hospital in Kyiv had been directly hit by a Russian missile.

“Analysis of the video footage and an on-site assessment indicate with a high degree of probability that the children’s hospital suffered a direct hit and was not damaged by an intercepted weapons system,” said Danielle Bell, head of the UN human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine.