Russia-Ukraine War: At least 36 people were killed and 140 others sustained injuries after Russia launched a series of missile strikes across cities in Ukraine on Monday.
A children's hospital in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, was also hit in the strikes. Two people were killed when the Ohmatdyt Children's Hospital, Ukraine's biggest paediatrics facility, sustained damage during the blast.
President Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said on Monday that 36 people were killed and 140 were injured in the strikes, according to media reports. Russia, however, denied targeting the hospital, saying it had been hit by fragments of a Ukrainian air defence missile, as reported by the BBC.
On the other hand, Kyiv claimed that it had found remnants of a Russian cruise missile. Speaking to the BBC, Lesia Lysytsia, a doctor at the hospital, said that the moment the missile struck, it had been "like in a film", with a "big light, then an awful sound".
"One part of the hospital was destroyed, and there was a fire in another. It's really very damaged—maybe 60–70% of the hospital," she said. Images from the scene showed young children—some with IV drips—sitting outside the hospital as it was evacuated, as reported by the BBC.
Kyiv's mayor, Vitaliy Klitschko, said that the two who died at the hospital were adults, one of whom was a doctor. He further stated that rescuers feared more people were trapped under the rubble. Ohmatdyt is a crucial hospital that carries out cancer treatment and organ transplants.
"Now we are in the process of evacuating patients to the nearest hospital, but many patients are intubated and on ventilators and cannot have contact with other patients or go outside," Dr. Lysytsia said, as quoted by the BBC.
Hospital officials said that 20 children were being treated in the ward, which was hit, the BBC reported, citing Ukrainian TV.
Parents holding their children walked down the street outside the hospital. According to news agency Reuters, windows were smashed, panels were ripped off, and hundreds of Kyiv residents were extending help to clear debris. "It was scary. I couldn't breathe, I was trying to cover (my baby). I was trying to cover him with this cloth so that he could breathe," Svitlana Kravchenko, 33, told Reuters.
On Tuesday, the Ukrainian government proclaimed a day of mourning for what it claimed was one of the worst missile attacks of the war.
By Targeting Children Hospital, Russia Once Again Demonstrates Its Cruelty: EU
Reacting to the missile strikes, the European Union said that these attacks have caused a large number of civilian casualties, with dozens killed and many more injured. It further stated that multiple residential buildings and several substations of the main energy company were destroyed.
“These attacks have caused a large number of civilian casualties, with dozens killed and many more injured. Okhmatdyt, the largest children’s hospital in Ukraine, was directly hit by a missile. A maternity hospital was later damaged too. Multiple residential buildings and several substations of the main energy company were completely destroyed,” the EU said in a statement.
According to the EU, the Russian strikes targeted Kyiv, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, and Pokrovsk, among others.
“By targeting Okhmatdyt, a symbol of Ukraine’s childcare medicine and treatment of children cancer, and attacking children, who are the most vulnerable, Russia once again demonstrates its cruelty and that it is utterly insincere about peace and peace negotiations,” the statement further read.
The EU also said that children are and can never be a legitimate target and must be protected. “Under international humanitarian law, hospitals enjoy special protection. Children are never and can never be a legitimate target; they must be protected at all times,” it said.