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A barrage of Russian missiles hit central Kyiv on Monday, severely damaging Ukraine’s main children’s cancer hospital, with authorities reporting multiple deaths.
Local authorities in the Ukrainian capital said five people were killed and a further nine injured. It was not immediately clear whether hospital patients or staff were among the dead. A picture posted by Ukraine’s presidential office showed one child with a head injury.
“This shelling was aimed at civilians, they hit the infrastructure, the whole world must see today the consequences of terror, the answer to which can only be force,” said Andriy Yermak, head of Ukraine’s presidential administration.
Russia on Monday also hit Ukraine’s southern cities of Dnipro, Kropyvnytskyi and Kryviy Rih, where local authorities reported further civilian casualties.
Ten people were killed and a further 30 injured in Kryviy Rih, Dnipro’s regional governor Oleksandr Vikul reported. Kryviy Rih is home to some of Ukraine’s few remaining large industrial enterprises. Vikul said an industrial complex had been hit, without naming the plant.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 40 different missiles were used in the attack.
Video footage posted by the Ukrainian public broadcaster shows the front of the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital ripped off the main building, with the surrounding area littered with debris.
At least part of a surrounding building appears to have been destroyed as well, with rescue workers on the site to retrieve any survivors. The top of another smaller hospital building was still smouldering.
Other videos posted online show debris and windows scattered across the floors and corridors of the hospital.
Large plumes of smoke could be seen rising in at least four other places in the city. The office of Kyiv mayor Vitaly Klitschko reported that fragments have landed on apartment buildings, an office block and houses in five districts in the capital.