This is the moment a Russian supersonic missile slammed into a Ukrainian children’s hospital in Kyiv today, one of several ‘genocidal’ nationwide attacks launched by Vladimir Putin‘s forces across the country.
WHAT HAPPENED?
Explosions rang out and black smoke could be seen rising from the centre of the Ukrainian capital. The assault is the biggest bombardment of Kyiv for several months, and comes on the eve of a key NATO summit in Washington.
Several other cities were also hit in Monday’s salvo, with another Russian attack in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih said to have killed at least 10 people.
NUMBER OF VICTIMS
Reports said at least 28 people were killed and 50 injured across the country. In Kyiv alone, 10 were killed and 35 were wounded, officials said, and at least two doctors are missing.
Meanwhile, further explosions were heard over the capital after the initial strikes as Ukrainian air defences intercepted more projectiles – thought to be drones, even as rescuers worked to clear the rubble at the country’s largest children‘s hospital.
Pictures distributed by officials from the children’s medical facility showed people digging through mounds of debris, black smoke billowing over a gutted building and medical staff wearing blood-stained scrubs.
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Children – some still hooked up to medical machines – were pictured outside the building in hospital beds, or being held by their mothers or hospital staff.
WORD FROM ZELENSKY
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had targeted five cities with more than 40 missiles of different types in the assault, adding that people were trapped under the rubble of the children’s hospital.
The daylight attacks included Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, one of the most advanced Russian weapons, the Ukrainian air force said. The Kinzhal flies at 10 times the speed of sound, making it hard to intercept. City buildings shook from the blasts.
