Explosions and smoke over many Ukrainian cities – Moscow has carried out one of the largest air raids of the war. In Kiev, helpless sick children become victims.
One day before the NATO summit in Washington, almost 40 people die in Russian missile attacks on Ukraine. A children’s hospital in Kiev is badly damaged. According to the military administration, at least 27 people were killed and 82 others injured in the capital. At least 11 deaths and 59 injuries were reported in the industrial cities of Kryvyi Rih and Dnipro in southern Ukraine.
The attack on one of the largest Ukrainian children’s hospitals in Kiev caused dismay. President Volodymyr Zelensky published a video on the social network X showing destroyed hospital rooms and traces of blood on the floor. “Russia cannot remain ignorant of where its missiles are flying and must be held accountable for all its crimes,” the president wrote.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko spoke of 16 injured people in the hospital, including seven children. Two of the injured died. According to Health Minister Viktor Lyashko, the children’s hospital’s dialysis, cancer treatment, operating rooms and intensive care units were damaged.
Hundreds of residents helped rescue workers clear rubble and search for victims. “Young cancer and dialysis patients are sitting on the sidewalk with their mothers,” German ambassador Martin Jäger reported on X from a visit to the hospital.
The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed missile attacks that were allegedly aimed at Ukrainian arms factories and military airfields. The many video images from Kyiv proved that the damage was caused by a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile, it said without providing any evidence.
The Moscow military dismissed the Ukrainians’ shock at the attack as “hysteria of the Kiev regime”, which is often seen before NATO meetings. According to Ukrainian reports, a second hospital in the capital on the other side of the Dnipro was also damaged.
Ukraine suspects targeted attack on hospital
Zelensky rejected Russian claims that the air defenses had made a mistake. “What cynicism the bastards in the Kremlin showed when they said it was supposedly the Ukrainian air defenses and not a targeted missile strike,” he said at a press conference with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Warsaw.
Zelensky thanked everyone who posted videos on the Internet “where you can clearly see that it is not just a part of one or another missile, but a direct missile strike that killed and injured many people.”
The private electricity supplier DTEK reported damage to three transformer stations in the capital. In addition to Dnipro and Kryvyi Rih, the front-line towns of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk in the eastern Ukrainian Donetsk region were also targeted. No information was given on hits on military targets or armaments factories.
Russia deployed several dozen missiles
According to Zelensky, the Russian military used more than 40 missiles in the attack. It was unusual that the heavy attack took place during the day at the start of the working week. The Ukrainian Air Force reported 38 missiles and cruise missiles of various types, 30 of which were intercepted. There had already been air strikes with drones, cruise missiles and rockets during the night.
Ukraine has been defending itself against the Russian invasion with Western help for more than two years and has repeatedly pushed for the provision of modern air defense systems.
According to recent information, Ukraine has received four of the particularly powerful Patriot systems from the US, but believes it needs many more. Another Patriot system is to come from the Netherlands, as Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp and Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmanns from the new government confirmed during a visit to Ukraine. Romania is promising another system.
Kyiv hopes ahead of NATO summit
Kiev is also hoping for further commitments at the NATO summit, which begins in Washington on Tuesday. Among other things, up to six Patriot systems from Israel are being discussed. “We need means to protect our people,” said Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak in an online press conference. He assumes that Russia deliberately attacked before the NATO summit.
The question of support for Ukraine is a central topic at the meeting of the Western defense alliance, which has existed for 75 years. Ukraine hopes to become a member to protect itself from Russia. However, no new steps are expected in this regard.
Security agreement between Ukraine and Poland
Zelenskyj first arrived in Warsaw on his way to the USA. He signed a security agreement between Poland and Ukraine with Prime Minister Tusk. “Whoever defends Ukraine today is also defending himself,” said Tusk. The Ukrainian president said that they wanted to work out a mechanism from Poland to shoot down Russian missiles and drones over Ukraine that come close to Poland.
Orban on a self-imagined peace mission
As a self-appointed mediator, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban held talks in Beijing after visits to Kyiv and Moscow. On X he spoke of the third stage of his mission. Even though Hungary currently holds the EU Council Presidency, the mission is criticized in Brussels as not being coordinated and is seen as Orban’s private initiative.
President Putin is not sending a message to US President Joe Biden or the NATO summit through Orban, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov in Moscow. Kyiv wants good neighbourly relations with Hungary, said Chief of Staff Yermak. But Ukraine does not need mediators. What is needed is a plan on how to end the war. The basis for this is Zelensky’s internationally widely recognised proposals.
Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Moscow for talks with Putin about the war. Russia, the major raw materials power, is an important energy supplier for India. The revenue from the sale of Russian oil, which India receives at a discount in view of the Western embargo against Moscow, also enables Putin to continue to finance his war of aggression against Ukraine.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
