(FILE) Paramedics, rescuers and medical personnel remove rubble from the destroyed Omaddit Children’s Hospital building following a Russian missile attack in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev on July 8, 2024, during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The United Nations said on July 9, 2024, that it was “highly likely” that the children’s hospital in Kiev had received a “direct hit” from a missile “launched by the Russian Federation.” Daniel Bell, head of the UN human rights monitor for Ukraine, told reporters in Geneva that a more detailed investigation was needed but that video footage “shows the weapon hitting the hospital directly.” (Photo by Roman Pilipei/AFP)
-Ukraine expressed condolences as rescue workers cleared rubble on Tuesday, a day after a Russian military strike destroyed a children’s hospital, sparking international condemnation.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said 38 people, including four children, were killed and 190 were wounded in the strikes of around 40 missiles targeting towns and cities across Ukraine.
Authorities declared a day of mourning in the capital, flew flags at half-mast and postponed entertainment events, while cranes and emergency crews were working at the site at Okhmatdit children’s hospital.
Zelensky said rescue operations were continuing at some of the attack sites and that patients from Okhmatdyt had been transferred to other facilities.
The Interior Ministry said after completing a search for survivors in hospital that two people were killed and 32 were injured, including eight children who were hospitalized.
“We continue our efforts to strengthen the protection of cities and communities from Russian terrorism. A decision will be made. The world has the necessary forces for this,” Zelensky added.
Trump has called on allies to bolster Ukraine’s air defenses and is expected to reiterate the call at a NATO summit starting later Tuesday in Washington.
The Ukrainian president also called for a UN Security Council meeting over the attack that killed about 10 people in his hometown of Kryvyi Rig.
Zelenskiy said about 400 rescuers responded to the airstrikes, while hundreds of volunteers gathered at the Okhmatdyt complex on Monday to help clear rubble and search for survivors.
City officials told AFP that the two people who died at the hospital were both adults – a doctor and a visitor.
Kiev’s mayor said three more bodies had been found in the rubble in a residential area of the city centre that was hit by the attack.
Military authorities in the capital announced that the total number of deaths in the capital had risen to 31, with 117 injured.
Ukraine said a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile had slammed into a prominent children’s hospital, but Moscow blamed Ukrainian air defense systems.
The Kremlin reiterated its claim on Tuesday that Russian forces were only targeting military infrastructure and referred further questions to the Defense Ministry.
“We continue to maintain that we do not attack civilians,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a regular news conference.
But the UN said it was “highly likely” that a children’s hospital in Kiev had been hit by a “direct hit” by a missile “launched by the Russian Federation”.
Daniel Bell, head of the UN human rights monitor in Ukraine, told reporters that a more thorough investigation was needed but that the video footage “shows the weapon hitting the hospital directly.”
Russian attacks in Ukraine continued overnight, wounding two people in the southern Kherson region and three more in Zaporizhia region, both areas claimed by the Kremlin as Russian territory.
