Russia blasted the main children’s hospital in Kyiv with a missile in broad daylight on Monday and rained missiles down on other cities across Ukraine, killing at least 41 civilians in the deadliest wave of air strikes for months.
Parents holding babies walked in the street outside the hospital, dazed and sobbing after the rare daylight aerial attack. Windows had been smashed and panels ripped off, and hundreds of Kyiv residents were helping to clear debris.
The government proclaimed a day of mourning on Tuesday for one of the worst air attacks of the war, which it said demonstrated that Ukraine urgently needed an upgrade of its air defences from its Western allies.
Air defences shot down 30 of 38 missiles, the air force said.
An online video obtained by Reuters showed a missile falling towards the children’s hospital followed by a large explosion. The location of the video was verified from visible landmarks.
The Security Service of Ukraine identified the missile as an Kh-101 cruise missile.
Kyiv’s military authorities said 27 people had died in the capital, including three children, and 82 were wounded in the main missile volley and a strike that came two hours later.
DAMAGE ACROSS THE CAPITAL
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the attack was one of the largest of the war, causing damage in seven city districts. The Health Minister said five units of the children’s hospital were damaged and children were evacuated to other facilities.
Eleven were confirmed dead in the Dnipropetrovsk region and 68 were wounded, regional officials said. Three people were killed in the eastern town of Pokrovsk where missiles hit an industrial facility, the governor said.
Zelenskiy, addressing a news conference in Warsaw alongside Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, called on Kyiv’s Western allies to give a firm response to the attack.
“We will retaliate against these people, we will deliver a powerful response from our side to Russia, for sure. The question to our partners is: can they respond?” Zelenskiy said.
The attack came a day before leaders of NATO countries were due to begin a three-day summit, with the war in Ukraine one of the focuses.
U.S. President Joe Biden said that Moscow’s deadly missile strikes in Ukraine, including on the children’s hospital in Kyiv, were “a horrific reminder of Russia’s brutality”.
In a statement released by the White House, Biden added that Washington and its NATO allies would be announcing new measures to strengthen Ukraine’s air defences.
Diplomats said the United Nations Security Council would meet on Tuesday at the request of Britain, France, Ecuador, Slovenia and the United States.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, deplored the attacks, saying: “Among the victims were Ukraine’s sickest children.”
Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces had launched strikes on defence industry targets and aviation bases.
Moscow has repeatedly denied targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, although its attacks have killed thousands of civilians since it launched its invasion in February 2022.
