Rescue operations at Kyiv Children’s Hospital completed, at least 33 dead in the capital

Important updates on July 9:

• Rescue operations at Kyiv Children’s Hospital completed, at least 33 dead in the capital
• Source: Ukraine attacked air base, oil depot and energy plant in Russia overnight
• Ukrainian partisans say they sabotaged a railway line in Russia’s Rostov Oblast
• North Korean military trainers travel to Russia weeks after signing partnership agreement
• Polish general: F-16 fighter jets in Ukraine could “create conditions for counterattack”

Search and rescue operations at the site of the Russian missile attack on the Ochmatdyt hospital in Kyiv were completed on July 9, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said.

The attack on the medical facility left two people dead, including a doctor, and 32 others injured. Eight children were hospitalized, according to Klymenko.

In total, at least 33 people were killed in the July 8 attack in Kyiv, including four children, officials said the following day. Another ten children were among the 117 injured.

Okhmatdyt Hospital, the largest medical center for children in Ukraine, was hit by a Russian missile on July 8. The attack destroyed one building and damaged four others in the hospital, Health Minister Viktor Liashko said.

Evidence from the hospital crime scene indicated “with high probability” a direct hit by a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMUN) said.

According to the HRMMUN, more than 1,000 staff and 670 children were in the hospital at the time of the attack.

“Analysis of the video footage and 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, director of HRMMUN.

Bell said the video footage showed the specifications of the type of weapon used and that it “showed the weapon hitting the hospital directly rather than being intercepted in the air.”

The The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) confirmed, according to preliminary data, that the Russian military attacked Okhmatdyt with a Kh-101 cruise missile. A law enforcement source told the Kyiv Independent that the launch took place according to a programmed route.

Other districts of Kyiv were also attacked by the Russians. The bodies of three more women and a boy were recovered from the rubble of a residential building in the Shevchenko district on July 9, said Mayor Vitali Klitschko.

“I want the Russians to feel it for themselves”: Shock and anger at the site of the attack on the children’s hospital

Nurse Olesia Filonenko was preparing for the first operation of the day at the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital in Kyiv when she heard explosions “somewhere far away.” “Then in a second everything was blown away,” she told the Kyiv Independent. “Dust, smoke. We were all blown out of the operating room…”

Ukraine struck airbase, oil depot, and energy facility in Russia overnight, source says

Ukrainian intelligence services carried out an attack on a Russian military airfield, a power substation and an oil depot in three different regions on the night of July 9, a military intelligence source told the Kyiv Independent.

The attack, carried out by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Ukrainian Military Intelligence Service (HUR), targeted the Akhtubinsk military airfield in Astrakhan Oblast, a 500-kV electrical substation in Rostov Oblast and an oil depot in Kalach-on-Don in Volgograd Oblast, the source said.

The source did not elaborate on the possible consequences of the attack, but two modern Su-57 fighter jets were reportedly damaged in attacks on Akhtubinsk airfield last month..

The air base is located about 450 kilometers east of the Ukrainian border and about 30 kilometers west of the Russian-Kazakh border.

According to a Kyiv Independent source, Russian Telegram channels reported live fire from a Pantsir air defense system and heavy explosions at Akhtubinsk airfield. The messages were later deleted.

This indicates a successful attack, as Russia usually “clears the information space” when its military facilities are hit, the source added.

Russian authorities had previously announced on the same day that Ukrainian drone attacks had set fire to two electrical substations and an oil depot in the Rostov and Volgograd regions.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Russian air defense shot down three drones over Belgorod Oblast, two over Voronezh Oblast, five over Astrakhan Oblast, seven over Kursk Oblast and 21 over Rostov Oblast..

Ukrainian drones attack large ammunition depot in Voronezh Oblast, source says

A law enforcement source told the Kyiv Independent that Ukrainian drones of the Security Service of Ukraine attacked a large ammunition depot in the village of Sergeyevka in Voronezh Oblast.

Ukrainian partisans say they sabotaged railway in Russia's Rostov Oblast

The partisan group Atesh sabotaged an important railway link used by the Russian military between the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol, the group claimed on July 9.

An Atesh agent burned down a relay cabinet near the Russian city of Shakhty, the partisans said, releasing alleged footage of the sabotage without specifying the date. The Kyiv Independent could not confirm the claims.

Russia has begun building new railway lines to connect Russia with Crimea and other occupied territories in southeastern Ukraine.

The move is intended to reduce the Russian military’s dependence on the Kerch Bridge and ferry crossing connecting eastern Crimea with Russia’s Krasnodar region, which have proven vulnerable to Ukrainian attacks.

Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to the exiled mayor of Mariupol, said in mid-June that the railway line between Rostov-on-Don and the occupied Ukrainian city was almost finished.

“This is one of the most important railway lines in the region, connecting Russia with Ukraine’s Donetsk region. It is actively used to transport military equipment and personnel to the front lines,” Atesh said on Telegram.

“We will continue to fight the occupiers with all our strength and the number of our sabotages will increase daily.”

The Atesh movement claims to be active both in the occupied territories of Ukraine and in Russia itself.

Over the weekend, Atesh partisans claimed they had successfully sabotaged a railway line near the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, bringing to a halt trains carrying North Korean munitions.

Within the most effective resistance movements of occupied Ukraine

Acts of resistance can take many forms. From a colorful ribbon tied to a tree or a flag raised over a remote mountain face, to a quick tip on an encrypted app that sets off a chain of events culminating in the destruction of a warship, it all counts.

North Korean military trainers travel to Russia weeks after signing of partnership agreement

A delegation of North Korean military instructors led by the head of a prestigious military academy in Pyongyang has embarked on a trip to Russia, North Korean state media reported on July 9.

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Pyongyang on June 18 and 19, where he signed a partnership agreement with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The two heads of state held hours of talks before signing the treaty, in which they committed themselves to providing mutual assistance in the event of an attack.

According to Reuters, the visit by North Korean military trainers is the first military exchange between Moscow and Pyongyang since the agreement was signed. Pyongyang has long supplied Moscow with weapons for use against Ukraine.

The delegation of North Korean military instructors will be led by the president of the Kim Il Sung Military University, Kim Geum Chol, North Korean state media reported, but without providing further information about the visit.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said on June 8 that growing military cooperation between Russia and North Korea poses a “clear threat and a serious challenge to peace and security on the Korean peninsula and in Europe.”

Russia sends children to North Korean summer camp

According to Gurov, the trip to the North Korean camp is planned for the end of July. Russia will send groups of children accompanied by caregivers, he added.

F-16s in Ukraine may 'create conditions for counterattack,' Polish general says

The arrival of the F-16 fighter jets could help Ukraine create the conditions for a counterattack, retired Polish Brigadier General Jaroslaw Kraszewski said in an interview with Ukrinform published on July 9.

Ukraine is expected to receive the first F-16 jets this summer, a year after Denmark and the Netherlands founded the “fighter jet coalition” with nine other countries at the NATO summit in Vilnius in July 2023.

Kraszewski believes the arrival of the F-16 will “dramatically change” the situation on the battlefield, although it is unlikely to represent a turning point in Russia’s all-out war.

“I think that many positive things will then happen to Ukraine; the planes will create the conditions for a counterattack,” he said in the interview.

According to the Polish general, Western aircraft and missiles should help stop the Russian offensive in the Kharkiv and Donetsk sectors and destroy logistics deep within Russia “cyclically and effectively”.

Kraszewski stressed that the West must allow Ukraine to advance deep into Russia in order to facilitate the liberation of Ukrainian territories – a step that Washington has so far refused to take.

Under such conditions, Ukraine could launch a counteroffensive this autumn, the general believes.

Belgium, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands have so far promised Ukraine more than 70 fighter jets, which are to be delivered from 2024. The latter two countries have allowed Kyiv to use the delivered F-16 fighter jets for attacks on Russian soil.

“The Ukrainian Air Force should receive long-range missiles to destroy Russian infrastructure, including airfields. If that happens, the Russian army’s logistics will be cut off from the main forces. In this case, the Ukrainian army command should form an attack group and strike back,” Kraszewski said.

Ukraine: Airfields under fire, Russia prepares for F-16 deployment

As Kyiv prepares to receive the first batch of Western F-16 fighter jets, Ukrainian airfields are facing an increase in Russian attacks. Last week, Moscow carried out at least three missile attacks on Ukrainian airfields – in Myrhorod, Poltava and Kryvyi Rih – all about 100 kilometers away.