'The Destruction Is Colossal': Russia Bombs Ukrainian Children's Hospital
"The Russian occupying forces have dropped several bombs on the children's hospital," said officials from the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
A screenshot of video footage shows the outside of a children's hospital reportedly bombed by Russian forces on March 9, 2022. (Photo: Mariupol City Council)
JAKE JOHNSON
According to the United Nations, dozens of Ukrainian children have been killed during Russia's full-scale assault on Ukraine, which is about to enter its third week with no end in sight.
Asked to comment on the reported hospital bombing, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Reuters that "Russian forces do not fire on civilian targets."
Mariupol, located in southeastern Ukraine, has been under near-constant shelling over the past several days as Russian troops surround the strategic port city. Vadym Boichenko, the city's mayor, told the Financial Times that Russian forces "are trying to exterminate us."
As the Associated Press reports, "A humanitarian crisis is unfolding in this encircled city of 430,000, and Tuesday brought no relief: An attempt to evacuate civilians and deliver badly needed food, water, and medicine through a designated safe corridor failed, with Ukrainian officials saying Russian forces had fired on the convoy before it reached the city."
Ahead of the strike on the Mariupol hospital—which was carried out during an agreed ceasefire—the World Health Organization (WHO) said Wednesday that it has confirmed 18 attacks on Ukrainian healthcare facilities thus far, resulting in 10 deaths and 16 injuries.
"Attacks on healthcare are in violation of international humanitarian law," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed last week.
"The Russian occupying forces have dropped several bombs on the children's hospital," said officials from the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
A screenshot of video footage shows the outside of a children's hospital reportedly bombed by Russian forces on March 9, 2022. (Photo: Mariupol City Council)
JAKE JOHNSON
COMMOAN DREAMS
March 9, 2022
This is a developing news story... Check back for possible updates...
Local Ukrainian officials said Wednesday that a Russian airstrike hit a maternity and children's hospital in the besieged port city of Mariupol, inflicting heavy damage and burying patients under the rubble.
"The Russian occupying forces have dropped several bombs on the children's hospital. The destruction is colossal," said the Mariupol city council, adding that it is not yet sure how many injuries or deaths the attack caused.
Sharing a video of the airstrike's aftermath on Twitter, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russian forces of committing another "atrocity" and reiterated his demand for a no-fly zone, which NATO countries have rejected given the high risk of sparking a broader war with Russia.
This is a developing news story... Check back for possible updates...
Local Ukrainian officials said Wednesday that a Russian airstrike hit a maternity and children's hospital in the besieged port city of Mariupol, inflicting heavy damage and burying patients under the rubble.
"The Russian occupying forces have dropped several bombs on the children's hospital. The destruction is colossal," said the Mariupol city council, adding that it is not yet sure how many injuries or deaths the attack caused.
Sharing a video of the airstrike's aftermath on Twitter, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russian forces of committing another "atrocity" and reiterated his demand for a no-fly zone, which NATO countries have rejected given the high risk of sparking a broader war with Russia.
According to the United Nations, dozens of Ukrainian children have been killed during Russia's full-scale assault on Ukraine, which is about to enter its third week with no end in sight.
Asked to comment on the reported hospital bombing, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Reuters that "Russian forces do not fire on civilian targets."
Mariupol, located in southeastern Ukraine, has been under near-constant shelling over the past several days as Russian troops surround the strategic port city. Vadym Boichenko, the city's mayor, told the Financial Times that Russian forces "are trying to exterminate us."
As the Associated Press reports, "A humanitarian crisis is unfolding in this encircled city of 430,000, and Tuesday brought no relief: An attempt to evacuate civilians and deliver badly needed food, water, and medicine through a designated safe corridor failed, with Ukrainian officials saying Russian forces had fired on the convoy before it reached the city."
Ahead of the strike on the Mariupol hospital—which was carried out during an agreed ceasefire—the World Health Organization (WHO) said Wednesday that it has confirmed 18 attacks on Ukrainian healthcare facilities thus far, resulting in 10 deaths and 16 injuries.
"Attacks on healthcare are in violation of international humanitarian law," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed last week.
Ukraine officials say Russian airstrikes destroyed children's hospital, maternity ward
March 9 (UPI) -- Ukrainian officials accused Russia's military on Wednesday of bombing a children's hospital and a maternity ward in southeastern Ukraine and leaving children and women under the debris.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other officials reported the attack on the hospital in Mariupol, which is one of five cities that Moscow agreed to allow refugees to flee with a new cease-fire agreement on Wednesday.
Before the hospital attack, Ukrainian officials said they were skeptical that Russia would comply with the cease-fire.
City councilors in Mariupol called the damage from the bombing "colossal."
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"Mariupol. Direct strike of Russian troops at the maternity hospital. People, children are under the wreckage," Zelensky said in a tweet.
"How much longer will the world be an accomplice ignoring terror? Close the sky right now! Stop the killings! You have power but you seem to be losing humanity."
Earlier Wednesday, Zelensky urged the international community to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine, saying that failure to do so will lead to a humanitarian catastrophe.
The new cease-fire was scheduled to run from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday and Russia said it would allow civilians to flee in five cities -- Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Mariupol. Ukrainian officials, however, noted that Russian forces have been shelling escape routes every day this week.
After failed attempts to secure safe corridors for Ukrainians trying the leave the country, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said she was hopeful Wednesday that the 12-hour cease-fire would allow the departure of noncombatants from several areas.
Vereshchuk said she is consulting with the International Red Cross about the proposed routes and called on Russia to keep its commitment to the passage without hostilities.
"People have to be able to leave the places where they are now hiding from the hail of [rockets] and the devastating fire that is killing them," she said, according to CNN.
Ukrainian officials said evacuations would resume Wednesday in war-torn Sumy, where a Russian airstrike on Tuesday killed several people, but noted that there are hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped in Mariupol.
Meanwhile, the United States has agreed to send Patriot anti-missile batteries to Poland to protect allied troops in the country. There is some concern that Moscow could ultimately fire rockets toward Poland or other neighboring countries that oppose the Russian advances.
Poland has been a staging area for Western forces and equipment, and U.S. President Joe Biden sent a couple thousand American troops there last month to aid NATO forces in protecting Ukraine.
On Wednesday, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is traveling to Poland as part of a three-day trip through Eastern Europe to support allied forces. The White House said she will visit Poland and Romania.
"She will be carrying a three-part message. The first is that the U.S. stands firmly and resolutely with our NATO Allies," a senior administration official told reporters. "Second is our continuing support for the Ukrainian people, both in terms of humanitarian and military assistance to them.
"And third is the fact that Putin has made a mistake that will result in resounding strategic defeat for Russia. And you're already seeing evidence of that in terms of what's going on inside Ukraine as well as the impact of the sanctions that we have imposed on the Russian economy."
Harris' trip comes after U.S. officials rejected the Polish government's offer to send MiG-29 fighters to a U.S. air base in Germany for use by the Ukrainian military.
Meanwhile, the European Union agreed Wednesday to expand sanctions against Russia and its ally Belarus. It added to SWIFT restrictions for Belarusian banks, sanctions against more than 150 people and punitive measures against Russia's maritime industry.
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