Sally Sara: Russia has launched a barrage of missiles at five cities across Ukraine, striking civilian infrastructure and killing dozens of people. Rescuers are combing through the rubble of Ukraine's largest children's hospital, which was struck in the attacks. The United Nations has condemned the strikes and Ukraine is looking for more support at this week's NATO summit. Alexandra Humphries reports.
Alexandra Humphries: As night falls, rescuers continue searching through the debris of Ukraine's largest children's hospital. Cranes and diggers clear rubble, searching for victims. Emergency workers use sledgehammers to break through. The blast interrupted and contaminated heart surgeries, while cancer patients were wheeled into the street to continue their treatment. Mother Tetyana was inside the hospital with her daughter when it was hit.
Tetyana: We came here to the hospital just five minutes before it all happened. We managed to get to the paediatric ward. I don't know, it's a nightmare. I don't even know if it was a missile that hit or fragments of a missile.
Alexandra Humphries: The hospital's been partially destroyed in a wave of missile strikes directed at major cities across Ukraine. The coordinated assault hit residential areas, killing at least 36 people and injuring many more. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed to retaliate. The United Nations Security Council has called an emergency meeting. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has strongly condemned the attacks. His spokesman is Stephane Dujarric.
Stephane Dujarric: Directing attacks against civilian and civilian objects is prohibited by international humanitarian law and any such attacks are unacceptable and must end immediately.
Alexandra Humphries: Lesia Vasylenko is a Ukrainian MP whose son was operated on in the children's hospital last year.
Lesia Vasylenko: Just to give you an idea of its significance, children who would be injured by Russian artillery attacks, Russian missiles in the zone of combat in cities like Kharkiv and the Donetsk region and the Luhansk region, they would be taken to this hospital to be operated on. This hospital would give them the chance to survive.
Alexandra Humphries: Moscow denies targeting civilians and claims to have hit military targets.
Lesia Vasylenko: Russia was shooting high precision missiles onto a city, a densely populated city, the capital Ukraine, in the peak hours of the morning when people would have been either in their jobs or going into their jobs. Children would have been in nurseries, kindergartens and parents and children would have been going into hospitals for treatments or consultations.
Alexandra Humphries: The attack comes on the eve of a three-day NATO summit in Washington. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been invited to attend with further support for Ukraine high on the agenda. Rose Gottemoeller was NATO's Deputy Secretary General from 2016 to 2019.
Rose Gottemoeller: They are gunning for NATO membership, full scale membership, but they're not going to get it at this summit. What NATO is instead extending is what is being called a bridge to NATO membership, which means that, for example, NATO will be establishing an office in Ukraine, it will be establishing a NATO set of activities to train and provide assistance.
Alexandra Humphries: NATO leaders are expected to pledge additional financial support to Ukraine at the summit, while members including the United States are likely to offer more weapons, including Patriot air defence systems.
Sally Sara: That's Alexandra Humphries.
