Rocket hits children’s hospital in Kiev – Kremlin denies blame
Russia launched heavy missile attacks on Ukraine. At least 30 people were killed, and the impact on one clinic was particularly dramatic.
Ochmatdit Children’s Hospital hit by rocket.
Photo: Efrem Lukatsky (AP, Keystone)
The team at Ochmatdit Hospital in Kiev knows what war is: their patients have seen their families murdered by Russian soldiers before their eyes; They either lost their father or mother in Mariupol at the very beginning of the Russian offensive, or had to live with split heads for weeks until doctors from Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital helped them: according to the hospital, up to 20,000 children are born. Up to 10,000 surgeries are treated here every year.
On Monday morning, the children’s hospital itself was hit: At least one Russian cruise missile or rocket struck a building on the sprawling hospital grounds in central Kiev — part of a deadly wave of Russian attacks on Kiev and other cities in months: at least 30 people died and dozens were wounded. According to Ukraine’s interior minister, five people died in the children’s hospital alone.
A cleared operating room at Ochmatdit Hospital, taken on July 8, 2024.
Photo: Evgeniy Maloletka AP (Keystone)
Laboratories were not the only hospital building hit, Health Minister Viktor Liashko said on television that an intensive care unit and a dialysis center where children were treated were also damaged. Hospital officials said on television that around 20 children were being treated after the building hit them when the accident occurred.
After the attack, hundreds of Kyivans came to the scene of destruction and helped in a long human chain to remove bricks and rubble. Shocked people, parents and their children, sat in front of the hospital; Footage from inside showed destroyed rooms, blood-stained tiles, abandoned rooms with children’s toys on small beds.
Two children in front of the Ochmatdit Children’s Hospital in Kiev, which was hit by a rocket.
Photo: Evgeniy Maloletka (AP, Keystone)
“Doctors are treating children on the street. Small cancer and dialysis patients are sitting on the sidewalk with their mothers. Firefighters, rescue workers and many volunteers are helping at the scene. We are helping – doing what we can,” German Ambassador Martin Jaeger said on Twitter. “This is a war against civilians. .This is Russia’s willingness to negotiate and its desire for peace.
Three explosions in the center of Kiev alone
According to the Kyiv Independent, three explosions were heard in central Kyiv alone this morning, and buildings in seven parts of the city were hit, according to military governor Serhii Babko. At least twelve people died and at least 41 were injured in Kiev this morning alone, according to the military governor.
Helpers try to support the rubble of the Ochmadyd Children’s Hospital in Kiev on July 8, 2024.
Photo: Evgeniy Maloletka (AP, Keystone)
The rocket attack on the children’s hospital was not the only attack on a healthcare facility: according to military governor Babko, a maternity ward was hit in Kiev’s Dnipro district, where at least four people were killed.
Russia was particularly aggressive in attacking targets in Ukraine this Monday. According to military governor Oleksandr Vilkul, ten people were killed and ten others were seriously injured in the large city of Krivy Rih, home of President Volodymyr Zelensky. Three more people were killed in the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, military governor Vadim Flyashkin said. Loud explosions were also heard in the garrison town of Kramatorsk. The main city of Dnipro and other cities were also attacked. President Zelensky initially named the number of at least 40 cruise missiles and rockets that Russia had fired at Ukraine.
According to the dpa news agency, the Russian Defense Ministry has denied targeting civilian facilities. Without citing sources, it said images from Kiev indicated the damage was caused by a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile.
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Defense Minister Rustem Umyerov called on the Western community to provide Ukraine with more air defense systems. It will also be a topic at the upcoming NATO summit. President Zelensky recently called for seven more US-made Patriot missile defense systems to Ukraine. As far as is known, only Patriot systems have shot down Russian supersonic missiles, such as Kinsal missiles, and Russian aircraft over Ukraine.
According to the London Institute for Strategic Studies, there are currently about 90 Patriot systems worldwide, 62 of which are distributed from the United States to locations around the world, according to the New York Times. According to a NATO report from mid-April, in addition to Germany, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Greece and Romania have patriot systems.
Three of the four patriotic organizations already awarded to Ukraine are from Germany. Holland, Germany and other countries are currently trying to collect defense missiles and various systems belonging to the Patriot system and deliver them to Kiev. However, Russia has quadrupled its production of cruise missiles and rockets since the start of 2023, according to a NATO report.
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