Rescue workers were clearing debris and Ukraine was in mourning Tuesday, the day after deadly Russian strikes tore open a children’s hospital and sparked international condemnation.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said 38 people across Ukraine were killed — including four children — and 190 wounded in the wave of nearly 40 missiles that targeted several towns and cities.
Officials announced a day of mourning in the capital with flags to be hung at half mast and entertainment events postponed, as cranes and first responders were working at the scene of the Okhmatdyt paediatric hospital.
“The rescue operation after yesterday’s Russian missile attack continues,” Zelensky wrote on social media, adding that patients from Okhmatdyt had been transferred to other facilities.
He has been urging allies to bolster Ukrainian air defence systems and was expected to renew those calls as a NATO summit kicked off later Tuesday in Washington.
The Ukrainian president also called for a United Nations Security Council meeting on the strikes that claimed some 10 lives in his hometown of Kryvyi Rih.
Zelensky said some 400 rescuers had responded to the strikes but hundreds of volunteers gathered at the Okhmatdyt complex on Monday to help clear rubble and search for survivors.
City officials told AFP on Tuesday that two people had been killed at the hospital — a doctor and a visitor, but that there could still be victims trapped under the rubble.
The Kremlin on Tuesday repeated its claims that Russian forces only target military infrastructure and deferred further questions to the defence ministry.
Russian attacks on Ukraine persisted overnight with two people wounded in the southern Kherson region and another three hurt in the Zaporizhzhia region, two regions the Kremlin claim are part of Russia.
Ukraine strikes Russia
Ukrainian strikes on the Russian border area of Belgorod killed at least four people over the past 24 hours, the region’s governor said Tuesday.
The mayor of Belgorod, the region’s administrative capital, said earlier that Ukrainian forces had launched overnight attacks throughout the region.
Russian officials reported attacks in other western regions, including Kursk, Voronezh, Volgograd, Rostov and Astrakhan.
Russian forces claim to have destroyed 38 Ukrainian drones overnight in regions near the border, according to Moscow’s defense ministry.
Both sides have used drones, including larger self-detonating craft with ranges stretching hundreds of kilometers, extensively throughout the conflict, which began in February 2022.
Ukraine has stepped up its attacks on Russian territory this year, targeting both energy sites that it says fuel Russia’s military, as well as towns and villages just across the border.
With AFP