Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital was likely hit directly by a Russian missile on Monday, a UN assessment said, as NATO agreed to beef up Kyiv’s air defences following the attack.
Russia has repeatedly denied targeting the Kyiv hospital and claimed, without evidence, that a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile caused the blast. But a UN human rights official said evidence suggested Moscow’s forces were responsible for the deadly attack.
“Analysis of video footage and assessments at the scene indicate a high probability that the children’s hospital was hit directly rather than damaged by an intercepted weapons system,” Danielle Bell, head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, said Tuesday.
Bell said the attack damaged the intensive care, surgical and oncology units at Kyiv’s Okhmatdyt Hospital, which have been vital in treating some of the sickest children across the country, adding that Ukrainian officials have transferred 600 children to other hospitals since then.
“This horrific attack shows that there is no safe place in Ukraine,” Bell added.
The UN assessment is in line with weapons experts, who told CNN it was likely a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile struck a children’s hospital in Kyiv on Monday.
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Analyzing video footage verified and geolocated by CNN as well as images of debris from the scene, weapons experts said the evidence strongly suggests the hospital was hit by a Russian cruise missile rather than a Ukrainian air defense projectile.
Justin Bronk, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London, told CNN the flight profile in the video footage of the missile hitting the hospital was “correct for a Kh-101, with the correct descent angle, on power and not spinning or tumbling like a spent air defense missile.” The silhouette of the rocket seen in the footage also matched that of a Kh-101, Bronk said.
Two adults were killed in the attack and 16 others – including seven children – were wounded, Ukrainian officials said, as Russia launched a rash of airstrikes on targets in cities across Ukraine during the morning rush hour, killing at least 43 people in total.
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The attacks across Ukraine were “strongly” condemned by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, while UN human rights chief Volker Turk called for an “immediate, thorough and independent investigation” into the attacks.
The Russian strikes came as NATO leaders gathered in Washington, where the United States and NATO allies agreed to provide more Patriot batteries and additional systems to bolster Kyiv’s air defenses, members of the defense alliance said in a joint statement on Tuesday.
US President Joe Biden also announced plans to provide new air defenses to Ukraine in his speech opening the NATO summit – providing much-needed support to the country at a critical point in its defense once morest a Russian invasion.
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In his speech on Tuesday, Biden pledged that “the United States will make sure that when we export critical air defense interceptors, Ukraine will be at the forefront.”
Targeted Attacks by Russia
Post-attack images and videos at the Kyiv hospital showed children with cancer being treated outside the facility and an injured toddler with blood on his face and arms.
CNN’s team at the scene said the extent of the damage showed just how devastating the blast was. A pile of rubble might be seen in place of what used to be a facility, while beneath the floor lay the flattened remains of cars following the building collapsed.
The UN monitoring mission said it was likely a Russian-launched KH-101 cruise missile struck the children’s hospital. The assessment was based on video footage showing the technical specifications of the type of weapon used and the footage “shows the weapon directly hit the hospital rather than being intercepted in the air,” Bell said.
A military expert who visited the site following the blast said the damage was “consistent with a direct hit,” according to Bell.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in Washington Tuesday, “Russia always knows where its missiles hit. Always.”
On Tuesday, Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia repeated Moscow’s denial that it had targeted the children’s hospital.
“We did not bomb a children’s hospital,” Nebenzia told a special meeting of the UN Security Council (UNSC) held following the attack.
“If this had been a Russian attack, there would have been nothing left of the building at all. All the children and most of the adults would have been dead, not injured.”
But the US also blamed Russia for the hospital attack. US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told a UNSC meeting that the Russian attack “made it very clear: Putin is not interested in peace.”
Kyiv described the attack as a “targeted strike by Russia,” with Ukraine’s State Security Service (SBU) saying a Russian long-range cruise missile had struck the facility.
“Relevant evidence has been found at the scene of the tragedy: in particular, the wreckage of the rear part of the Kh-101 missile with a serial number and part of the steering gear of the same missile,” the SBU said.
SBU chief Vasyl Maliuk vowed the agency would respond to what he called Russian war crimes.
“This response will be legal and moral,” he said. (CNN/Z-3)
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