The heavy attacks on Ukraine have been strongly condemned internationally. US President Biden promised to strengthen air defenses. The UN Security Council is holding an emergency meeting.
The rocket attacks on densely populated areas of Ukraine and a children's hospital in the capital Kiev have caused great international horror. The US President 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: Clinic treated children with cancer
UN Secretary-General António Guterres described the rocket attacks as “particularly shocking,” as his spokesman Stéphane Dujarric explained. UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Türk said that children were being treated for cancer in the hospital. “Among the victims were the most seriously ill children in Ukraine,” he said. Shortly after the attack, a UN team saw cancer treatments continuing in parks and on the streets. “This is abhorrent,” said Türk. These attacks must stop immediately. He called for them to be investigated “immediately, thoroughly and independently” and for those responsible to be held accountable.
The UN Security Council wants to discuss the attacks in an emergency meeting. The most powerful body of the United Nations is scheduled to meet in New York this afternoon (CEST). France and Ecuador had requested the emergency meeting. Since Russia has veto power in the Security Council, unanimous condemnation of the actions of the Russian armed forces is not to be expected.
Strack-Zimmermann: “Putin once again shows his cruelty”
FDP politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann was also horrified. “With the brutal attack on a children's hospital, Putin is once again showing us his cruelty,” she said. “Anyone who still claims that Putin wants to negotiate is frighteningly out of touch with reality and infinitely naive.” No one with eyes could now oppose the delivery of “Taurus” cruise missiles to the attacked country. Chancellor Olaf Scholz has so far rejected this on the grounds that Germany must not be drawn into the war.
After the attack, Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach announced yesterday that Germany would take in sick children in need at any time. “The next rescue flight will take off on Wednesday,” Lauterbach wrote on the X platform. “Putin has shown once again by targeting the children's hospital that he is a war criminal.”
Russia denies blame
Russia denies responsibility for the attack. The children's hospital in Kiev was hit by Ukrainian air defenses, not Russian missiles, said the spokesman for the presidential office in Moscow, Dmitry Peskov. However, he did not provide any evidence for this. “I insist that we do not carry out attacks on civilian targets,” said Peskov.
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.
Search for victims continues
Meanwhile, in the Ukrainian capital, rescue work continued at the damaged children's hospital. Hundreds of residents helped firefighters search for other victims and clear the rubble.
The rocket attacks on Kiev and Dnipro on Monday were the heaviest in months. According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, a total of 38 people died nationwide, including four children. 190 were injured.
Martin Ganslmeier, ARD New York, tagesschau, 09.07.2024 05:42 a.m.
