More than twenty people killed in Russian attacks in Ukraine

KYIV / MOSCOW, (EFE).- At least 32 people were killed this Monday in a massive Russian missile attack in the Ukrainian capital and in the cities of Dnipro and Kryvyi Rih, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is from.

The attack comes just ahead of a NATO summit, which will take place in Washington this year and will again this year focus on how member states can continue to help Ukraine militarily.

At ten o’clock in the morning local time (07:00 GMT) several explosions rocked the Ukrainian capital, with the consequences of the attack expected to be revealed in the coming hours, which destroyed residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure.

Children’s hospital hit

A children’s hospital located in the Shevchenko district of central Kiev was attacked by a Russian missile, destroying one of the infrastructure buildings and damaging other wings of the medical centre.

Two adults working at the hospital were killed in the attack, which also injured seven people, including several children.

Hundreds of residents of the Ukrainian capital have flocked to hospitals throughout the day to take part in clearing rubble and helping victims with water, food or medicine. Patients had to be transferred to other centers.

Seven other people were killed when a clinic in the Dniprovsky region of Kiev was also hit by a Russian missile.

According to the latest official report provided by the Ukrainian emergency services, a total of 21 people died and another 65 were injured as a result of today’s bombing of the Ukrainian capital.

One person was killed when a missile hit a multi-storey residential building in the city of Dnipro in the centre of the country.

Another ten people were killed in the bombing of an industrial infrastructure in Kryvyi Rig in the Dnipropetrovsk region, of which Dnipro is the capital.

According to the Ukrainian Air Force, anti-aircraft defences managed to intercept 30 of the 38 missiles of various types launched by Russia against Ukrainian territory on Monday morning.

Ukraine seeks substantial help from allies

During a press conference held in Poland with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stressed the need to “hold Russia responsible for terrorism and (Russian President Vladimir) Putin responsible for ordering attacks” such as this Monday.

“Anyone who tries to talk to them about peace, Russia responds with attacks on homes and hospitals,” Zelensky said.

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, welcomed the visit of the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orban, to Moscow this Friday, which he said was intended to explore the possibilities of a negotiated solution to the war. Orban had already visited Kiev on Tuesday, where he asked Zelensky to consider the possibility of a ceasefire.

In his press conference with Tusk, Zelensky said the only way to achieve peace is to force Russia to end the war by providing substantial aid to Ukraine.

Moscow denies deliberate attacks on civilian targets

The Russian Defense Ministry denied deliberately attacking civilian targets in Ukraine during massive bombings of military industry companies and Ukrainian airports this morning.

Moscow spoke of a “provocation” and hinted that the attack was planned by Ukraine itself, since “numerous photos and videos published from Kiev clearly confirm that the destruction was caused by the fall of a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile launched inside the city”.

The Russian command condemned that “this type of hysteria of the Kiev regime always occurs on the eve of each new summit of its NATO sponsors.”

Instead, he defended that, in the morning, “in response to Kiev’s attempts to damage Russian energy and economic goals, the Russian armed forces launched a major attack with high-precision, long-range weapons against Ukraine’s industrial military targets and air bases of the Ukrainian army.