The bombing of a pediatric hospital by Russian forces on Wednesday is a “war crime”, decried the Ukrainian president, who accuses Westerners of being complicit in this atrocity.
• Read also: Ukraine: 1,207 civilians killed in Mariupol in 9 days of Russian siege
• Read also: [EN DIRECT] Two weeks of war in Ukraine: here are all the latest developments
• Read also: War in Ukraine: Ottawa releases an additional $50 million in military equipment
Demolished building, medical debris strewn on the ground, beds of neonatal babies overturned by the impact: it is from these ruins that pregnant women and young children were evacuated on Wednesday. A bombardment blew up the hospital center for children and pregnant women in Mariupol, a port city in southeastern Ukraine.
Photo courtesy, EYEPRESS
Patients and employees of this pediatric hospital in Mariupol were in shock on Wednesday following the savage bombardment of the facilities.
“People, children are under the rubble. Atrocity! How much longer will the world be an accomplice, ignorant of terror? Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Twitter, denouncing what he considers a “war crime”.
“This is proof that a genocide of Ukrainians is happening,” he added, speaking to NATO, without mincing words. Close the sky now. Stop the killings. You have the power, but you seem to lose your humanity. »
Barbaric
A stone’s throw from the building, a crater more than 10 feet tall testified Wednesday to the brutality of the attack. The first Ukrainian report presented on Wednesday reported no deaths and 17 people injured, including staff members and patients in the maternity wing.
The attack happened while women were giving birth in the hospital. Less than a kilometer away, a university was also targeted by a strike.
The whole thing caused outrage across the world.
A “barbaric use of military force once morest innocent civilians”, deplored the White House.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the action “immoral”.
“There are few things more depraved than targeting the vulnerable and defenseless,” Johnson added.
Not to mention that these bombardments occurred in the midst of a ceasefire, Russia having accepted a 12-hour break to allow refugees to evacuate a number of cities. Moscow and Kyiv are also due to meet on Thursday to continue their negotiations in Turkey.
A battle station, really?
Several hours before the strikes on Mariupol, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused Ukraine of using the hospital’s maternity wing as a fighting position.
According to him, patients and caregivers had been “excluded” from the premises. However, photos and videos contradict these words, while pregnant women had to be evacuated on stretchers.
Prisoners of the city
Since the beginning of the invasion, 1,300 civilians have been killed in Mariupol alone, according to local authorities. The fighting around the city was among the most intense, testified by residents who managed to escape, according to the New York Times.
But some 300,000 Ukrainians are still stuck, without water, food, heating and communication. Efforts to negotiate a humanitarian corridor in Mariupol have repeatedly failed, with Russian fire not ceasing when expected.
“There are bodies lying in the streets,” said Marina Levinchuk, 28, who drove 30 hours to find refuge in a town to the west. [Les gens] collect snow, melt it and boil it [pour avoir de l’eau]. »
– With Roxane Trudel
