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image source, Archyde.com
The hospital attacked in Mariupol.
The bombing of a maternity and children’s hospital in Mariupol, a city in southeastern Ukraine, sparked outrage around the world on Wednesday.
the ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, blamed the Russian military for the attack, describing it as “a war crime”.
The shelling, according to a statement by the Mariupol City Council, was “colossal”. Videos and photographs show the remains of the building with the windows and doors destroyed, as well as its interior.
You can also see burned cars and a huge crater outside the hospital center.
At least 17 people were injured, some of them hospital workers. No children were reported affected by the incident. However, a photograph shared by various media shows how emergency personnel helped a pregnant woman in the area of the incident.
image source, Ukraine Police
Photo provided by the Ukrainian Police of a crater supposedly created by the airstrike.
“What kind of country is this, the Russian Federation, that is afraid of hospitals and maternity hospitals and destroys them?” the Ukrainian leader questioned in a recorded speech from Kiev.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of Ukraine’s regional military administration in Donetsk, an area occupied by pro-Russian separatists since 2014, said that the hospital’s maternity ward, children’s ward and therapy room were destroyed.
“We don’t understand how it’s possible in modern life to bomb a children’s hospital. People can’t believe it’s true,” Mariupol Deputy Mayor Serhiy Orlov told the BBC.
Doctors Without Borders, which has staff stationed in Ukraine, said its team is “horrified” by the attack.
“In a city where the healthcare system is on the brink of collapse, depriving people of much-needed healthcare is a violation of the laws of war“, details a statement.
Meanwhile, world leaders have come together to also condemn what happened. The White House described it as “barbaric” and the UK government as “depraved”.
Faced with the facts, Zelensky He once more requested a no-fly zone over Ukraine to prevent Russian planes from flying over, a request that the United States and members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have rejected.
“Close the sky right now! Stop the killers! They have power, but it seems that they are losing humanity,” the president said on Twitter.
Russia has previously denied that its military attacks civilians and health institutions.
However, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization, said on Wednesday that the entity has confirmed 18 attacks in Ukraine once morest health facilities, health workers and ambulances. The incidents of the past few days have caused 10 deaths and 16 injuries, according to the official.
In addition, the United Nations Organization reported that it has confirmed 516 civilian deaths in Ukraine, but believes that the real figures are “considerably higher”.
An “apocalyptic” scene
Ukraine and Russia had agreed to a ceasefire in several cities so that civilians might be evacuated in six humanitarian corridors. Mariupol was among the towns where a temporary truce would take place.
But the port city has been under Russian bombardment for days.
image source, Archyde.com
The Red Cross qualified as “apocalyptic” the situation of civilians there.
The population has chosen to take refuge underground, including the wounded, who according to reports from the agency Archyde.com they are without access to food, electricity or heating.
While the Kremlin blamed Kiev for not stopping hostilities, the Zelensky government maintained that 30 buses and eight supply trucks did not arrive on Tuesday following they were shelled in violation of the ceasefire.
image source, Screenshot President of Ukraine
Separately, Mariupol officials have said they created a mass grave to bury victims of the conflict.
“Unfortunately, there are too many bodies,” Vitaly Falkovsky, a local official, told the Financial Times. “It was a necessary measure because we cannot bury people in the normal way. The morgues are overwhelmed.”
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. Since then, some two million people have left the country in search of refuge.
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