Kyiv children’s hospital bombed 

I have been in Kyiv for a few weeks. The city has felt safe thanks to its improved air defences. But that changed this morning when the capital came under a huge attack. Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital, Okhmatdyt, was hit by Russian missiles. The area is strewn with collapsed concrete and smoke is rising still. Children may remain trapped under the rubble. 

People are rushing to help – queuing to deliver water, food and medicine. Some have come to donate blood. Children have been taken out of the hospital on trolleys and are now in the streets, while some continue to receive their cancer treatments via IV drips. Mothers stand with their bed-ridden children outside the collapsed ward that was only recently rebuilt.

I am at the scene now – hundreds of people bring water and aid to the Children’s hospital. pic.twitter.com/gxPa7BdBoc

— Svitlana Morenets (@SvMorenets) July 8, 2024

Volodymyr Zelensky’s office says it’s believed that the hospital was targeted deliberately. More than 40 Russian missiles were fired at Ukraine this morning during the barrage. Five cities were targeted. At least 31 have been reportedly killed; many more are injured. Ukraine is initiating the convening of an urgent UN Security Council meeting.

Vitali Klitschko, the Mayor of Kyiv, has also been at the scene. ‘Today, the country felt not fear, but even more rage and hatred,’ the former boxer said. ‘There will be an answer for terror against civilians and children.’