By Daryna Mayer and Yuliya Talmazan
July 8, 2024, 6:17 AM EDT / Updated July 8, 2024, 7:41 PM EDT
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian missiles rained down on a renowned children’s hospital in Kyiv and throughout the capital, as well as central and eastern Ukraine, on Monday, killing dozens and injuring more than 170, officials said.
Thick plumes of smoke rose from several Kyiv neighborhoods and the Ukrainian Health Ministry shared a video showing charred exteriors and blown-out windows at the capital’s Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital, and one of its complexes that had been reduced to rubble.
About 37 people were killed, and more than 170 were wounded, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. The dead include three children, he said.
“Russian terrorists must answer for this. Mere concern does not stop the terror,” Zelenskyy said.
Video and photos by Ukrainian officials showed medical workers and patients in bloodied clothes, walking around the hospital grounds apparently dazed. Video from inside the hospital showed windows blown out onto patient beds and blood spattered on the floor.
Others from the scene showed a crowd of people, both medical workers and civilians, helping rescuers clear the debris in one of the hospital’s buildings, much of which was still smoldering.
Kyiv city administrators said that two adults were killed in the attack on Okhmatdyt Hospital. Another 20 people were killed and 82 were injured in the strikes on the city. The city administration said two children were among the dead, although it was not clear if they died at the children’s hospital. More were feared trapped under the debris.
In a post on X, President Zelenskyy said that the children’s hospital is one of Europe’s most important medical facilities. “Okhmatdyt has been saving and restoring the health of thousands of children,” he said.
Seven of the injured were children at the hospital, according to a Telegram post from Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, who added that one of the adults killed there was a doctor. Klitschko has declared Tuesday a day of mourning for the victims.
It was not immediately clear whether the hospital had been directly hit or whether fragments of intercepted missiles fell on it.
People were killed and injured in “practically in every district of the capital,” Andrii Yermak, head of Zelenskyy’s office, said in a separate post on Telegram. “It was an attack on civilians when there were many people on the streets,” he added.
Elsewhere, officials said at least 10 people died in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih.
Ukraine’s air force said that Russian forces had launched multiple ballistic and cruise missiles against Ukrainian targets, while explosions were felt and heard across the capital. The attack was the largest and most widespread on Kyiv in months.
The daylight attack included the use of Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, one of the most advanced Russian weapons, the air force said. The Kinzhal flies at 10 times the speed of sound, making it hard to intercept. City buildings shook from the blasts.
According to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, another medical facility was also damaged in Kyiv’s Dniprovsky district, with four people killed. The service said falling rocket debris was recorded earlier in the day in the district.
Explosions were also reported in other cities across Ukraine, including in Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, Zelenskyy said. “More than 40 missiles of different types were used,” he said in a Telegram post.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement Monday that it launched strikes “with long-range precision weapons” on Ukrainian military facilities and aviation bases.
Despite footage of widespread damage to residential buildings and medical facilities in Ukrainian cities, the ministry denied reports from Ukrainian officials about Russia intentionally striking civilian targets. Instead, it blamed the damage in Kyiv on “the fall of a Ukrainian air defense missile launched from an anti-aircraft missile system within the city.”
But the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said that Russia used a Kh-101 missile to directly strike the Okhmatdyt Hospital. The agency said its investigators found fragments of the missile at the site and referred to the attack as “a war crime.”
Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said in a Telegram post the attacks showed his country’s air defense capabilities remained insufficient. Zelenskyy and Ukraine’s other top officials have been calling for more advanced air defense systems from their Western partners for months.
The attacks come on the eve of a three-day NATO summit in Washington, which will look at how to reassure Ukraine of the alliance’s unwavering support.
U.S. President Joe Biden condemned the missile strikes as “a horrific reminder of Russia’s brutality.”
“It is critical that the world continues to stand with Ukraine at this important moment and that we not ignore Russian aggression,” Biden said in a statement.
“Together with our allies, we will be announcing new measures to strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses to help protect their cities and civilians from Russian strikes,” he said. “The United States stands with the people of Ukraine.”
Daryna Mayer is an NBC News producer and reporter based in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Yuliya Talmazan is a reporter for NBC News Digital, based in London.
The Associated Press contributed.
Source: https://www-nbcnews-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna160655
