“Direct Hit” – The Time

“A publicity campaign made with blood” by the Ukrainian government. Moscow insists on denying its responsibility for the attack on the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital in Kiev, and with the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, relaunches the thesis according to which “obviously a defense missile was used improperly to hit this hospital”. With an eye on the NATO summit in Washington, which the Ukrainian president is also attending and which will be followed “as carefully as possible”, Russia accuses “the Zelensky regime” of using the tragedy for propaganda purposes. But according to Danielle Bell, head of the UN mission for monitoring human rights in Ukraine, the analysis of the video footage and an assessment carried out on the site of the incident indicate with “a high probability” that the hospital suffered “a direct hit”. While the number of children killed in Ukraine following Russian attacks since the beginning of the war reaches 559, the main pediatric hospital in the country “has a very limited capacity, almost 90% is inactive and not functioning”, explained to LaPresse Gioele Scavuzzo, head of mission of the Soleterre Foundation in Ukraine, which is located at the Okhmatdyt pediatric hospital.

As for Moscow’s statements, “unfortunately we have experience with the type of missiles following 2 years of living in Ukraine and seeing the still images and videos it is clear the shape of the typical hypersonic missiles used by Russia”. The Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, on the occasion of his trip to Russia to meet “friend” Vladimir Putin, said that “when we see innocent children dying, then our hearts hurt”, in what seemed to be an indirect reference to the attack on the hospital. Modi said he was ready to offer “any assistance” to bring an end to the conflict, but the meeting with the Tsar aroused the ire of Zelensky, who spoke of “a great disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts to see the leader of the largest democracy in the world embrace the bloodiest criminal in the world”. The US also did not like it, and said it had clarified its concerns regarding the relationship with Moscow directly with New Delhi.

“And so we hope that India and any other country, when they engage with Russia, will make it clear that Russia should respect the UN Charter, should respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine,” said US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller. Meanwhile, Moscow is also continuing its internal repression. The Basmanny District Court in the capital has ordered the arrest of Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in prison. She is accused of participating in an extremist organization and is wanted. The charge once morest her carries a sentence of 2 to 6 years in prison. “Vladimir Putin is a murderer and a war criminal. He belongs in prison,” Navalnaya responded on social media, “in the same colony and in the same 2 by 3 meter cell where he killed Alexei.”