At least 31 people were killed and a 125 more injured in waves of Russian missile attacks across Ukraine, the Interior Ministry said on Monday, a day before NATO leaders gather in Washington to discuss their support for the government in Kiev.
While the missiles struck sites across Ukraine, it was an attack on a large children's hospital in Kiev left Ukrainians especially stunned.
The city's mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said at least two people died at the hospital and several more were wounded. No additional details about the victims were released. Earlier he had said that 16 people were injured, including seven children.
President Volodymyr Zelensky posted a video on social media showing portions of the building reduced to rubble and blood on the floor of wrecked hospital rooms.
Hundreds of people gather at the Okhmatdyt Children's Hospital to search through the debris.
"Russia cannot claim ignorance of where its missiles are flying and must be held fully accountable for all its crimes. Against people, against children, against humanity in general," Zelensky wrote.
Health Minister Viktor Liashko said dialysis and cancer treatment departments, as well as operating theatres and the intensive care unit, were damaged.
"Little cancer and dialysis patients sit on the pavement with their mothers," German ambassador Martin Jäger said on X after visiting the hospital.
Later Ukrainian reports said a second hospital in the capital on the other side of the Dnipro River was also damaged.
Kiev was among the cities worst impacted by the strikes, with 20 dead and at least 61 injured, the city administration said in its latest count.
Residents in Kiev's centre heard two dozen explosions, presumably the result of anti-aircraft missiles. Mayor Klitschko said debris fell in several of the city's neighbourhoods.
The Ukrainian Air Force said the Russian military fired 38 missiles of various types at targets in Ukrainian cities. Ukraine's air defences were able to intercept 30 of them.
Private electricity supplier DTEK reported damage to three transformer stations in the capital.
Kryvyi Rih and Dnipro in southern Ukraine were also badly hit with at least 11 people killed and 59 injured. Other targets included the front-line cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk.
No information was provided about hits on military targets or defence factories.
The Russian military used more than 40 missiles in the attack, Zelensky said.
It was unusual that the heavy attack took place during the day at the beginning of the working week. The embattled nation already saw airstrikes by drones, cruise missiles and missiles during the night.
Ukraine has been trying to repel a full-scale Russian invasion since February 2022 and depends largely on Western support.
Kiev repeatedly urges its allies to provide even more modern air defence systems.
Moscow confirms attacks, says defence factories targeted
The Russian Ministry of Defence confirmed missile attacks that allegedly targeted Ukrainian defence factories and military airfields.
The ministry said, without evidence, that the damage in Kiev was caused by an errant Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile.
The Moscow military dismissed the Ukrainians' shock at the attack as "hysteria on the part of the Kiev regime" and said this is often the case before NATO holds meetings.
Zelensky: Russian attack on children's hospital was deliberate
Zelensky rejected Russia's claims that there had been an air defence error.
"What cynicism the bastards in the Kremlin have shown, that it was allegedly Ukrainian air defence and not a targeted missile strike," Zelensky told a press conference with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Warsaw.
Zelensky thanked all those who have posted videos online "on which it can be seen concretely that it is not just a part of one or another missile, but a direct missile strike that killed and injured many people."
Ukraine hopes for more NATO help
Ukraine has received four of the particularly powerful US-made Patriot systems, but says it needs many more.
Kiev is hoping for further commitments at the NATO summit in Washington that opens on Tuesday, including on up to six Patriot systems from Israel.
Zelensky has stressed the need for at least seven reliable anti-aircraft systems to protect major cities such as Kharkiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhya and Odessa, which are frequently targeted by missile attacks.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced the alliance is set to provide Ukraine with military aid worth €40 billion ($43 billion) in 2025 in a press conference ahead of the summit.
Lithuania criticizes attacks, vows to support Kiev
"Putin sends his greetings to the NATO summit with the bombing of a children's hospital, as if any clarification were needed as to why Ukraine must now receive all possible support and real guarantees for its future security," Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said on X.
Parliamentary Speaker Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen spoke of "another shocking testimony of war crimes against Ukraine."
Russia is firing missiles at children's hospitals and creating a Russian world - "Russki Mir" - in which it is normal for mothers to search for their children under the rubble, she wrote on Facebook.
"There is no excuse for not giving Ukraine the help it needs."
Berlin strongly condemns Russian attacks
The German government strongly condemned the Russian attacks, including on the Kiev children's hospital.
Berlin is calling on Russian President Vladimir Putin "to put an immediate end to this war of aggression against so many innocent people," a Foreign Office spokeswoman said.
Civilians and children in Ukraine in particular are suffering greatly, she said, subject to "a brutal war of aggression that indiscriminately claims victims through Russian bombs and attacks that cannot be justified by anything" for more than two years.
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