ISW: Russia tries to deflect responsibility for the strike at the Ochmatdyt children’s hospital

The U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported on July 8 that Russian officials and information actors are trying to shift blame for the attack on the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital in Kyiv using various false claims.

In the ISW’s view, these efforts contradict the available evidence.

The Ukrainian Center for Combating Disinformation warned on July 9 that Russian propaganda sources are spreading numerous narratives to deflect responsibility. These include false claims that Ukraine used parts or all of the hospital to treat wounded Ukrainian soldiers, that Ukraine stored missiles at the hospital, and that Ukrainian anti-aircraft missiles, not a Russian missile, hit the hospital.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that footage “clearly confirms” that Ukrainian anti-aircraft missiles had damaged civilian objects in Kyiv, probably the Ochmatdyt Children’s Hospital. However, the ISW points out that this claim contradicts the evidence.

Russian sources widely distributed footage of the missile shortly before impact.

“Some military bloggers even published misleading posts falsely claiming that it was a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile and not an attacking Russian Kh-101 missile,” the ISW reports.

The ISW stated that the missile’s trajectory in the video and the visible turbojet engine beneath its fuselage are consistent with the frame of a Russian Kh-101. In its report, the ISW does not support claims that it was an anti-aircraft interceptor aircraft, and the missile does not appear to have been damaged by anti-aircraft interceptors.

This assessment is further supported by the fact that, according to the ISW, the Ukrainian secret service SBU reported that the serial numbers of the missile components match those of other Russian Kh-101 missiles fired at Ukraine.

The ISW also points out that some Russian military bloggers claimed that Russian forces were targeting the Artem Machine-Building Plant, which is located about 1.6 kilometers north of the hospital.

However, the ISW reports that “other Russian missiles did indeed hit the Artem plant during the attack,” suggesting that this was not a case of a missed target.

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