Vladimir Putin was last night branded a genocidal maniac as the tyrant turned his missiles on the most defenceless of his war on Ukraine - children with cancer.
The Russian president’s forces targeted a kids hospital in one of the biggest missile strikes in months. At least 36 people were killed, including a doctor, and 140 injured in attacks across the country, sparking global outrage.
Terrified children at Kyiv’s Okhmadyt Hospital were reportedly heard crying for help from beneath the rubble, while heartbreaking images showed others with drips in their arms being led away in shock by rescuers. Some mothers carried their children away on their backs to air raid shelters.
Marina Ploskonos, whose four-year-old son had spinal surgery last Friday, said: “My child is terrified. This shouldn’t be happening, it’s a children’s hospital.”
Putin cynically called the murder mission a “special operation”. But Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said: “This is not a special operation. It’s not a war. It is a genocide of the people of Ukraine. You can see how Russian missiles and kamikaze drones kill civilians. Don’t listen to Russian propaganda.”
As air raid sirens continued to sound in the capital last night, the former boxer declared today a day of mourning as the nation reels from yet another attack on innocent victims of the war that has so far killed at least 10,582 civilians.
Keir Starmer last night reiterated UK support for Ukraine. The PM said: “Attacking innocent children. The most depraved of actions. We stand with Ukraine against Russian aggression, our support won’t falter.”
Foreign Secretary David Lammy added: “The Russian attack on the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital is an horrific attack on civilians. My thoughts are with all the victims and their families. We must hold those responsible for Putin’s illegal war to account.”
Kidney specialist Svitlana Lukyanchik was one of at least two people killed in the hospital strike. Journalist Yigal Levin said the 30-year-old doctor wanted to “help the most defenceless… kids” and added: “Let the hands of those who launched missiles across Ukraine today wither, let both themselves and their entire rotten family be cursed.”
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said: “The hospital has been damaged by a Russian strike, there are people under the rubble, and the exact number of casualties is still unknown. 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.”
“It is very important that the world should not be silent about it now and that everyone should see what Russia is and what it is doing.”