This is a news article from the BSS/AFP news agency. The article reports on Russian attacks that destroyed a children’s hospital in Kyiv, Ukraine. The attack happened on July 10, 2024, and resulted in the deaths of 43 people.This is a news article from the BSS/AFP news agency. The article reports on Russian attacks that destroyed a children’s hospital in Kyiv, Ukraine. The attack happened on July 10, 2024, and resulted in the deaths of 43 people. The article includes quotes from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said that “We will restore Okhmatdyt” and called on allies to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense systems. The article also includes quotes from UN officials, who condemned the attack and said that “The deliberate targeting of a protected hospital is a war crime.” The article also includes information about the attack itself, including the type of missile that was used and the number of people who were killed and injured. The article also includes information about the Russian government’s response to the attack, which was to deny responsibility and claim that Ukrainian air defense systems were to blame. The article concludes with a summary of the ongoing fighting in Ukraine, including the capture of the village of Yasnobrodivka by Russian forces.
Mourning in Kiev as rescue workers clear rubble from children’s hospital
Kyiv, Ukraine, July 10, 2024 (BSS/AFP) – Rescue workers clear rubble as Ukraine observed a day of mourning on Tuesday after Russian attacks destroyed a children’s hospital in Kyiv, sparking international outrage.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said 43 people were killed in Ukraine by a barrage of nearly 40 rockets that targeted several towns and villages on Monday morning.
Officials declared a day of mourning in the capital, with flags flying at half-mast and events postponed, while cranes and emergency workers worked at the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital.
Zelensky said rescue work was underway at several sites where the attack took place and that patients from Okhmatdyt had been transferred to other facilities.
“We will restore Okhmatdyt,” Zelensky said during his evening speech.
The Interior Ministry said it had completed the search for survivors at the hospital, adding that two people had been killed and 32 wounded. Eight children had been hospitalized, it said.
“At the time of the attack, 627 children were in hospital,” military authorities in Kiev said.
The president has called on his allies to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense systems and vowed to renew those requests after arriving in Washington for the NATO summit.
“We are and will always do everything to make the Russian terrorist lose,” Zelensky announced in a video statement. He said he would ask allies at the meeting for more fighter jets and additional security guarantees.
In another speech to a think tank, Zelensky thanked Kiev’s supporters for the new air defense package unveiled at a NATO summit on Tuesday and urged the United States and other countries to do more to defeat Russia.
The attack was strongly condemned by governments across Europe and North America, with Pope Francis even expressing his “deep sadness” over the attacks.
Russia also came under fire from the UN Security Council on Tuesday for carrying out “systematic attacks” on medical facilities in Ukraine.
“The deliberate targeting of a protected hospital is a war crime and the perpetrators must be held accountable,” Joyce Msuya, acting undersecretary for humanitarian affairs, told the emergency meeting.
“These incidents are part of a deeply worrying pattern of systematic attacks on health care and other civilian infrastructure across Ukraine,” Msuya said.
Russia currently holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council, and Russia’s envoy to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzya, indicated this month that he would take a firm stance toward Ukraine and its Western allies.
– Probably a ‘direct hit’ –
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 in hospital were both adults: a doctor and a visitor.
The mayor of Kiev said several bodies were found under the rubble of a residential area in a central district that was also hit by the attack.
According to the latest figures, a total of 33 people have been killed and 117 injured in the capital.
Ukraine reported that a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile had hit the well-known children’s hospital, but Moscow blamed Ukrainian air defense systems.
The Kremlin on Tuesday reiterated its claims that Russian forces are only attacking military infrastructure and referred further questions to the Defense Ministry.
“We continue to insist that we do not attack civilian targets,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters at a daily briefing.
However, the UN said there was a “high probability” that the children’s hospital in Kiev was “directly hit” by a missile “fired by the Russian Federation”.
Danielle Bell, head of the UN human rights mission in Ukraine, told reporters that a deeper investigation was needed, but that video footage showed “the weapon hit directly into the hospital”.
Russian attacks on Ukraine continued throughout the night. Two people were injured in the southern Kherson region, and three more in the Zaporizhia region. According to the Kremlin, these are two regions that belong to Russia.
The Russian Defense Ministry also said it had captured the village of Yasnobrodivka in eastern Ukraine, near the Russian city of Donetsk.
The village is the latest in a string of settlements captured in recent weeks as Ukrainian forces, outgunned and outgunned, struggle to hold back advancing Russian forces.
