Aid workers and medics clear the rubble from the destroyed building in Ukraine
Kiev:
Russia came under fire at the UN Security Council on Tuesday for carrying out “systemic attacks” on Ukraine’s medical facilities following a wave of deadly attacks across the country.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said 38 people across Ukraine were killed – including four children – and 190 were injured in the wave of nearly 40 rockets that targeted several towns and cities on Monday, damaging medical facilities.
“The deliberate targeting of a protected hospital is a war crime and the perpetrators must be held accountable,” Joyce Msuya, acting undersecretary for humanitarian affairs, said at the emergency meeting.
“These incidents are part of a deeply worrying pattern of systemic attacks damaging healthcare and other civilian infrastructure across Ukraine,” Msuya added.
Kiev said a children’s hospital was hit by a Russian cruise missile with parts produced in NATO member states, and announced a day of mourning in the capital.
“First responders who arrived on the scene immediately after the attack found children receiving cancer treatment in hospital beds, set up in parks and on the streets, where medical responders had quickly established triage areas,” Msuya said.
Ukraine’s ally, France’s envoy Nicolas de Riviere, said that “Russia has deliberately targeted residential areas and healthcare infrastructure.”
“France condemns these blatant violations of international law, which are yet another entry on the list of war crimes for which Russia will be held responsible,” he said.
‘Horrible’ attacks
China, which has long called for a negotiated solution between Russia and Ukraine, said the two sides should “show political will, meet halfway and start peace talks at an early date.”
“China will continue to actively promote peace talks,” Beijing envoy Fu Cong said.
Russia previously claimed that the extensive missile damage in Kiev was caused by Ukrainian air defense systems.
“We continue to insist that we will not attack civilian targets,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in a daily briefing on Tuesday.
However, the United Nations said there was a “high probability” that the children’s hospital in Kiev suffered “a direct hit” by a missile “launched by the Russian Federation”.
Russia currently holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council and its envoy to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzya, indicated earlier this month that he will take a firm line with Ukraine and its Western allies.
As a permanent member of the U.N.’s top security body, Moscow wields a veto that it has used repeatedly to thwart efforts to denounce the war in Ukraine.
It initially appeared that Russia would try to block Ukraine from participating in Tuesday’s meeting after Nebenzya said Kiev had not correctly formatted its letter requesting participation.
Ukraine could participate “only on the condition that the United States requested it… we regret that Ukraine cannot act independently… (and) it must be led by its sponsor,” Nebenzya said.
“Mr President, we are shocked by the attacks on Ukraine by the country you represent,” Slovenian UN representative Samuel Zbogar told Nebenzya, calling the attacks “brutal” and “another low point.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the deadly Russian attacks in Ukraine “particularly shocking,” his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Monday.
U.N. rights chief Volker Turk echoed Guterres, calling the attacks “horrendous” and saying that “the attacks severely damaged the intensive care, surgical and oncology wards of Okhmatdyt, Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital.”
Zelensky has urged allies to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense systems and was expected to renew those calls when a NATO summit kicked off in Washington later Tuesday.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
