A children’s hospital in Kyiv, Ukraine, was partially destroyed by a Russian missile strike on Monday. Patients and their families fled in terror as officials worry more people could be trapped under the rubble.
Moscow launched a bold aerial assault on cities across Ukraine during morning rush hour, resulting in at least 36 deaths and 137 injuries, according to Ukraine’s emergency service. The extensive bombardment hit areas in the capital, as well as in Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, Slovyansk, and Kramatorsk.
An update on Telegram from the emergency service reported that the latest figures include 22 dead and many injured in the capital. Two people died and at least 16 were injured in the strike on Kyiv’s Okhmatdyt hospital.
This hospital is Ukraine’s largest children’s medical center and is crucial for treating seriously ill children from across the country. According to Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets, the hospital performs around 7,000 surgeries annually, including treatments for cancer and hematological diseases.
Videos from the scene showed volunteers working with police and security services to search through the rubble while smoke rose from the hospital. Staff described their efforts to evacuate children after the attack. Ukraine’s health minister Viktor Liashko reported damage to intensive care units, oncology departments, and surgery units.
“Our main task now is to rescue people trapped in the rubble and provide assistance to those we can reach, as we have already evacuated all the first victims,” he said in a Telegram post.
These attacks were part of an unusual daytime bombing of Ukrainian cities, some located far from the front lines and densely populated. They occurred just before a crucial NATO Summit in Washington, where US President Joe Biden is expected to make new announcements regarding the alliance’s military, political, and financial support for Ukraine.
On Monday, Russia’s defense ministry claimed it targeted “military-industrial facilities of Ukraine and air bases of the Ukrainian armed forces” using long-range, high-precision weapons.
