After a children's hospital was attacked, the UN said it was “very likely” that the cruise missile was fired in Russia. The Kremlin denied this. Interior Minister Faeser announced further humanitarian aid.
The images of the rubble on the grounds of the largest Ukrainian children's hospital, Ochmatdyt, the helpers and the frightened children have caused horror. After preliminary investigations, the United Nations assumes that the clinic in the Ukrainian capital Kiev was “very likely” hit by a Russian cruise missile.
Danielle Bell, head of the UN human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine, said video footage showed the hospital was hit “directly” by a Russian-launched CH-101 cruise missile. She called it “one of the most egregious attacks we have seen since the invasion began.”
Ukrainian intelligence service: Do we have evidence
She said that the staff had taken the young patients to safety in the bunker shortly before the attack on Monday. Otherwise the number of victims would have been much higher. According to her, two people were killed in the attack, including a doctor. All 600 children who were being treated there were taken to other health facilities.
The hospital, where many children with cancer and other serious illnesses were treated, was severely damaged and can no longer be used without significant repairs.
The Ukrainian domestic intelligence service SBU also speaks of new evidence of a hit by a Russian CH-101 cruise missile. “The experts' conclusions are clear – it was a direct attack,” the SBU explains on the Telegram short message service. It shows pictures of a fragment of an engine that was said to have been found at the site of the impact. The analysis of the trajectory and the type of damage caused proves that it was a direct hit.
Russia rejects allegations
However, the Russian side firmly denies responsibility for the attack. According to the Foreign Ministry in Moscow, a missile from a Ukrainian surface-to-air missile defense system caused the devastating destruction. The system in question is a NASAMS type, explains Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. NASAMS is a modern surface-to-air missile defense system that the USA developed together with Norway.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated that Russia would not attack civilian targets. “Targets of critical infrastructure and military targets that in one way or another contribute to the military potential of the Kiev regime are being targeted,” Peskov continued.
How Russia portrays its warfare
Since the start of the full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine, the Russian armed forces have repeatedly violated international humanitarian law, which is also binding for Russia. This includes the massacres of the civilian population in Bucha, Irpin and Izyum, as well as the ongoing bombing and missile attacks on civilian targets throughout Ukraine. The destruction of critical infrastructure, the torture of prisoners of war and vulnerable people in areas conquered by Russia, rape and deportation are also incompatible with international humanitarian law. An independent international commission of inquiry has collected numerous pieces of evidence on behalf of the United Nations and identified widespread and targeted patterns. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for alleged war crimes against, among others, Russian President Vladimir Putin, former Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov.
Russia has categorically denied all accusations since the beginning of the war. The leadership in Moscow claims that the “West” started the war in Ukraine, wants to destroy Russia and is forcing Russia to defend itself. Russia adheres to international humanitarian law. Russia always blames Ukraine itself for attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine – such as the Mariupol theater or the children's hospital. Be it by talking about actions by Ukrainian units under a false flag intended to discredit Russia, or about misdirected Ukrainian missiles. Russia does not recognize the International Criminal Court. Russia has not yet provided any independently verifiable evidence for its claims.
UN Security Council meets to discuss the attacks
According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, at least 38 people were killed in several attacks on Kiev and other Ukrainian cities on Monday, including four children. 190 others were injured. In the capital, seven people were killed in a large residential building near the clinic. Two people died in an unspecified industrial facility.
Unofficial reports suggest attacks on an arms factory. Nine people were killed in another partially destroyed hospital and seven people were killed in a business center.
Conflicting parties as a source
In the current situation, information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by official bodies of the Russian and Ukrainian parties to the conflict cannot be directly verified by an independent source.
Faeser announces help – Biden is horrified
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser promised Ukraine further humanitarian aid. This was “a terrible war crime that once again shows the incredible inhumanity with which Putin is waging his war against Ukraine,” she said. Germany will “continue its humanitarian support with all its might.”
Germany has so far evacuated 1,116 seriously wounded, injured and sick Ukrainians, explained Faeser. “More evacuations are imminent.” Many victims have lost limbs and have gunshot and explosion injuries. “We have also evacuated children who have suffered terrible war injuries,” explained the minister.
US President Joe Biden spoke of a “terrible reminder of Russia's brutality”. The government in Washington and NATO allies will announce new measures to strengthen Ukraine's air defense this week. NATO countries are meeting in Washington for a summit starting today.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres described the rocket attacks as “particularly shocking,” as his spokesman Stéphane Dujarric explained. The UN Security Council plans to address the attacks in an emergency meeting in New York.
Ukrainian attacks on Russian regions
The city administration of Kyiv declared Tuesday an official day of mourning. Entertainment events were banned.
Meanwhile, according to Russian sources, Ukrainian forces attacked several regions and further inland with drones. Two substations and an oil depot in Volgograd in southern Russia caught fire due to falling debris from drones, the regional governor there, Andrei Bocharov, said on Telegram. In the Rostov region, a fire broke out in a substation, but was extinguished, according to local authorities.
According to Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, four people were killed in a nighttime attack in the border region of Belgorod and others were injured.
Russian air defense systems destroyed 38 drones, including 21 over the Rostov region and seven over Kursk, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said.
Martin Ganslmeier, ARD New York, tagesschau, 09.07.2024 05:42 a.m.
