When Pediatric Hospitals Become War Targets

"[It is a war crime to intentionally attack buildings] dedicated to religion, education, art, science or charitable purposes, historic monuments, hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided they are not military objectives."

Founding Charter, International Criminal Court

"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."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

 

"Now we have evacuated all the children. Those who came for routine treatment have gone home, consulted with their doctors, and will decide where they will continue their treatment." 

"The rest of the children who were on oxygen support and connected to life support devices are now in hospitals and are being provided with adequate medical care."

Ukraine’s health minister Viktor Liashko

Medical staff and members of the community move rubble away from damaged areas at the hospital and search for survivors.   Gleb Garanich/Reuters

Russia let loose a daytime missile barrage on Monday targeting five cities with over 40 different types of missiles. According to Ukraine's air force, 30 missiles were intercepted. Over 150 people were wounded, 43 people died. The Okhmatdyt children's hospital saw its main 10-story building's windows and doors blown out, walls blackened, blood seen spattered in places. Damage was seen in the hospital's intensive care unit, its operating theatres and oncology departments. Three heart operations were interrupted, with debris from the explosion contaminating patients' open chests.

Immediately after the strike, patients, their families and medical staff were evacuated out of the hospital buildings.   DmytroKuleba/X

 

The attack caused a loss of water, light and oxygen necessitating that patients be transferred to other hospitals. Mothers were seen carrying their bandaged children in their arms, away from the ruins while hospital attendants brought other patients out on gurneys. In Kyiv alone seven of the city's ten districts were hit. According to Ukraine's Security Service wreckage from a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile was found at the site, leading them to begin proceedings on charges of war crimes.

Of the 13 Kh-101 missiles launched by Russia on Monday Ukraine said 11 were shot down. This specialty missile is air-launched, flies low to avoid radar detection.

A picture shared by President Zelensky on his official X page showing a young patient injured in the strike.    ZelenskyyUa/X

Strikes targeted Ukrainian defence plans and military airbases, according to Russia's Defence Ministry, denying its military aimed at civilian facilities. Pictures from Kyiv, it claims, indicate the damage occurred as the result of a Ukrainian air defence missile. Coincidentally, over 1,600 medical facilities have seen damage since the beginning of Moscow's 'special military operation'. Of that number, 214 were completely destroyed. As for the  hospitals that were struck, the Russian military denies it had attacked the hospital; its strikes hit only military targets.

Russia's Defence Military is in firm denial. Russia, points out Col. Yurli Ignat of the Ukrainian air force, has been improving its airstrike effectiveness by equipping its missiles with enhancements, inclusive of heat traps enabling evasion of air defence systems. The cruise missiles in Monday's attack flew low; some 50 metres off the ground, a strategy that makes them more difficult to hit.

Continuing missile strikes hit Kyiv, some three hours after the first strikes, partially destroying a private medical centre where four people were killed. In Kyiv's Shevchenkivskyi district, a residential building's three-storey section was destroyed, leaving emergency crews to search desperately for casualties to rescue, apart from the bodies that were found there.

Medical staff and members of the community move rubble away from damaged areas at the hospital and search for survivors.     Gleb Garanich/Reuters