A brother and sister, aged 10 and nine, have been named as two of Vladimir Putin’s victims in the most ferocious assault on Kyiv in several months.
Maksim and Anastasia died next to their mother Zoryana Simaniuk when a missile hit their five-storey residential block in the Ukrainian capital on Monday morning.
Daria Herasymchuk, aide to president Volodymyr Zelensky, said: ‘The two children were pulled from the rubble. They are a nine-year-old girl, a 10-year-old boy and their mother.
‘These children did not expect that their lives would end [on Monday].’
The bombing on the Shevchenkivsky district came as a separate missile struck the largest children’s hospital in Ukraine, killing two adults and wounding 32.
Footage showed the destruction at the Ohmatdyt National Specialised Children’s Hospital in the centre of the capital.
Part of the toxicology ward, next to the 10-storey main building, was struck by a Russian missile, causing it to collapse.
There are fears children are amongst those trapped under the layers of concrete.
Evacuations are ongoing at the scene and people – both medics and civilians have formed a human chain to remove the debris, brick by brick.
Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko described the attack as one of the worst during the full-scale invasion.
Standing near the damaged building, he said: ‘It is one of the worst attacks. You can see: it is a children’s hospital.’
Multiple people have already been pulled out of the building – bloodied toddlers wrapped in blankets and medics covered in cuts and wounds.
At least 16 people were injured, including seven children. But the number is likely to rise in the coming hours.
Klitschko said official assessments of the attack’s consequences were still being carried out.
(Picture: Reuters)
Parents clutching to their babies walked out into the street, dazed and sobbing.
Svitlaka Kravchenko said: ‘We heard an explosion, then we were showered with debris.’
Her two-month old baby had been unharmed, but she had suffered cuts, and the car was totally buried under the rubble of the destroyed building across the courtyard from the main ward.
The 33-year-old said: ‘I could not breath. I was trying to cover (my baby). I was trying to cover him with this cloth so that he could breathe.’
The mass bombardments included Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, one of the most advanced Russian weapons, the Ukrainian Air Force said.
The Kinzhal flies at 10 times the speed of sound, making it hard to intercept. City buildings shook from the blasts.
Air raid sirens rang out in multiple cities in Ukraine earlier this morning, alerting people to take shelter.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia targeted five cities with more than 40 missiles of different types, killing at least 31 people and injuring almost 130.
In Kryviy Rih, the native city of the Ukrainian leader, 10 people were killed and 31 were injured.
Another three people died in Pokrovsk, in eastern Ukraine, when missiles struck an industrial facility.
‘All services are involved to save as many people as possible,’ Zelensky said on his Telegram channel.
‘And the whole world should use all its determination to finally put an end to the Russian strikes.’
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