Ukraine war latest: Doctor describes moment deadly strike hit children's hospital - as world leaders voice outrage after at least 36 killed (2024)

Russia's missile strikes that killed dozens of Ukrainian civilians and caused damage and casualties at Kyiv's largest children's hospital are a horrific reminder of Russia's brutality.

It is critical that the world continues to stand with Ukraine at this important moment and that we not ignore Russian aggression.

This week, I will be welcoming President Zelenskyy and NATO leaders to Washington DC, and I will be meeting with President Zelenskyy to make clear our support for Ukraine is unshakeable.

Together with our allies, we will be announcing new measures to strengthen Ukraine's air defenses to help protect their cities and civilians from Russian strikes. The United States stands with the people of Ukraine.

A doctor at the children's hospital in Kyiv which was hit by a Russian missile has described the moment of the attack.

Lesia Lysytsia told Sky News there was a light and then a sound - "an awful sound".

She added: "Then you don't hear anything."

She went outside to see where she could be useful.

Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, said at least 16 people, seven of them children, were injured.

Okhmatdyt children's hospital has a lot of patients with serious diseases who need medical support 24 hours a day, Ms Lysytsia said.

"At the moment of attack we were all in the hospital continuing our work," she said.

Following the attack, doctors took care of their patients and then went to the emergency room to help the injured, she added.

Patients are being diverted to other hospitals.

"Almost all our doctors are safe," Ms Lysytsia said.

Kyiv's mayor Vitali Klitschko spoke to Sky News earlier this evening.

He accused Russia of "genocide of the Ukrainian population" after today's attack on the capital city.

The US says it has "raised concerns" with India about its relationship with Russiaamid the ongoing war in Ukraine, a US State Departmentspokesperson told reporters on Monday.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Russian President Vladimir Putin today as part of a two-day visit - his first to Moscow since its invasion of Ukraine started in 2022 (see 9.17am post).

The Indian foreign ministry said the visit was happening at Mr Putin's invitation.

The leaders' meeting involved reviewing their countries' developing bilateral ties and discussing regional and global issues, the ministry added.

Mr Modi has retained a neutral position on the conflict, refraining from publicly criticising Mr Putin's invasion while trying to maintain ties with the West.

However, the partnership between Moscow and New Delhi has become strained since Russia started developing closer ties with India's main rival, China.

The White House also expressed concern about a visit to China by Hungarian PrimeMinister Viktor Orban, who travelled there to discuss a potentialUkraine peace deal (see 8.33pm post).

Hungary's prime minister Viktor Orban has backed President Xi Jinping's Ukraine peace deal in an unexpected visit to China.

Mr Orban and Mr Xi met at the Diaoyutai State Guest House inBeijing, Chinese state media reported, for what the Hungarian leader describedas the third leg of a "peace mission" that he has undertakenwithout the backing of the European Commission or Ukraine.

Mr Orban angered some European leaders when he visited Moscow for talks with Russia's Vladimir Putin last week.

China, which has close ties to Russia, has been promoting asix-point peace plan it issued with Brazil in May, proposing aninternational peace conference "at a proper time" and callingfor equal participation by both Ukraine and Russia.

Amid an outpouring of anger towards Russia following damage to a children's hospital in Kyiv, Ukraine has also been the subject of solidarity among world leaders.

Those countries offering support in the wake of the attacks include Germany, whose health minister said he had told his Ukrainian counterpart that "we will take in sick children in need at any time".

"The next rescue flight will start on Wednesday," Karl Lauterbach said.

"Putin has shown again by his targeted attack on the children's hospital: he is a war criminal."

As detailed in our previous post, Ukraine has vowed to retaliate to the huge attacks launched by Russia today.

While it is unclear whether this was part of the promised response, the governor of Russia's Belgorod border region said three civilians were killed and several others wounded when Ukrainian shells hit a village today.

Vyacheslav Gladkov said one man had died of his wounds in the village of Nikolskoye and two more in a nearby hospital.

As we have been reporting, Russia launched a wave of attacks on cities across Ukraine today.

Among the many buildings hit was the main children's hospital in Kyiv.

At least 36 civilians were killed in the strikes across the country.

Parents holding babies walked in the street outside the hospital, dazed and sobbing after the rare daylight aerial attack.

The government proclaimed a day of mourning on Tuesday for one of the worst air attacks of the war, which it said demonstrated thatUkraineurgently needs an upgrade of its air defences from its Western allies.

Air defences shot down 30 of 38 missiles, the air force said. Fifty civilian buildings, including residential houses, a business centre and two medical facilities were damaged in Kyiv, the central cities of Kryvyi Rih and Dnipro and two eastern cities, the interior minister said.

An online video showed a missile falling from the sky towards the children's hospital, followed by a large explosion. The location of the video was verified from visible landmarks. The Security Service of*ckraineidentified the missile as a Kh-101 cruise missile.

Twenty-two people, including two children, were killed in Kyiv and 82 more were wounded in the main missile volley and another strike that came two hours later, officials said.

Eleven were confirmed dead in the Dnipropetrovsk region and 64 were wounded, regional officials said.

Three people were killed in the eastern town of Pokrovsk where missiles hit an industrial facility, the governor said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saidUkrainewould retaliate and called on Kyiv's Western allies to give a firm response to the attack.

"We will retaliate against these people, we will deliver a powerful response from our side to Russia, for sure. The question to our partners is: can they respond?" he said.

Ukrainian tennis player Elina Svitolina was tearful after her victory at Wimbledon today following the news of the attacks on her home country.

Svitolina beat her opponent 6-2, 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals.

She wore a black ribbon during the match.

"It's a very difficult day today for Ukrainian people," she said in a post-match interview.

"So yes, it was not easy to focus today on the match. Since the morning, it's very difficult to read the news."

Ukraine has discussed today's deadly Russian onslaught with the International Criminal Court, the country's prosecutor general has said.

Andriy Kostin said he spoke to ICC prosecutor Karim Khan about the attacks and vowed to send "all information and evidence" to the court.

More than 30 people have been killed across Ukraine today.