Russian missile strikes targeted multiple cities across Ukraine on Monday, including a children’s hospital in Kyiv, resulting in the deaths of at least 22 people and injuring hundreds more, according to government officials.
Ukrainian authorities reported that the aerial bombardment occurred during rush hour, affecting cities such as Kyiv, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, Slovyansk, and Kramatorsk.
In Kyiv, nine fatalities and 23 injuries were reported by Ukraine’s general prosecutor, while local officials in Kryvyi Rih confirmed 10 deaths and 37 injuries.
Among the structures hit was Kyiv’s Okhmatdyt Hospital, the largest children’s medical center in Ukraine, known for performing around 7,000 surgeries annually, including treatments for cancer and hematological diseases, as noted by Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets.
Footage from the scene depicted volunteers collaborating with police and security services to clear debris as smoke rose from the hospital. Staff recounted their efforts to evacuate children to safety following the attack. Ukraine’s health minister Viktor Liashko stated that intensive care units, oncology departments, and surgical units sustained damage in the assault.
3.5
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
“The key task here is to get people out of the rubble and provide assistance to those we can reach, as we have already taken out all the first ones,” he said in a Telegram post.
Natalia Sardudinova, a senior nurse, described the moment the strike hit the hospital saying that “it was scary, but we survived.”
“It was loud, the windows were crunching,” she told CNN. “As soon as the alarm sounded, the children were taken out into the corridor.”
She said two children had been in the operating theatres at the time of the blast
.
“Everything was in smoke, there was no air to breathe. The doctor was cut by shrapnel. The windows and doors were blown out. One nurse in the hospital was heavily injured. My hands are still shaking. They don’t let anyone in now, they are afraid it will collapse.”
Yulia Vasylenko, the mother of an 11-year-old cancer patient at the hospital, said her son Denys was evacuated outside following the strike.
“My son is on painkillers. He has cancer. He has been without medication for half a day. He was brought down the stairs from the third floor. There was smoke (and) heavy dust,” she said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy said in a post on X that the exact number of casualties at the hospital was not yet known and that “there are people under the rubble” but that everyone from doctors to local residents are helping clear debris in the strike’s aftermath.
“Apartment buildings, infrastructure, and a children’s hospital have been damaged. All services are engaged to rescue as many people as possible,” Zelensky wrote in a post on X.
