LAST UPDATE | 9 Jul 2024

A DAY OF mourning is being observed in Ukraine after at least 42 people were killed in Russian air strikes yesterday.

More than 170 people were also injured after one of the worst waves of Russian strikes in months.

Russia yesterday attacked five towns and cities across southern and eastern Ukraine, as well as a missile barrage in the capital Kyiv which targeted a children’s hospital.

The Ohmatdyt Children’s Hospital is Ukraine’s biggest paediatrics facility and it sustained major damage during the strikes.

At least two people died in this attack, and a search for survivors continued overnight at the hospital.

The strike at the hospital interrupted open-heart surgery and forced young cancer patients to have their treatments outdoors, and rescue operations are continuing today.

The 10-storey hospital was caring for 670 patients at the time of the attack, Okhmatdyt’s director general Volodymyr Zhovnir said today.

President Michael D Higgins today condemned the attack and called for the violence in Ukraine to end.

“To anybody watching a children’s hospital being destroyed and its occupants forced to flee for their lives, they will feel that this crime has brought warfare to its lowest level,” President Higgins said.

“All efforts must now be redoubled to bring this horrific violence to an end,” he added.

Amnesty International called the strikes “abhorrent” and noted that its experts have verified videos of the strike that destroyed the hospital in Kyiv and that it “consistently suggests that the hospital was hit by an inbound Russian cruise missile”. 

“Russian attempts to put the blame on Ukrainian air defence display a callous audacity, which seeks to deflect from Russia’s responsibility for killing civilians and destroying medical facilities,” said Amnesty International in a statement today.

It added that the strikes are a “reminder of the cruelty of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine”.

Close to 100 buildings were damaged in the Russian strikes yesterday, including multiple schools.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at least 37 people were killed in these strikes, including three children.

In Ukraine today, 37 people were killed, three of whom were children, and 170 were injured, including 13 children, as a result of Russia’s brutal missile strike.

A Russian missile struck the largest children's hospital in Ukraine, targeting young cancer patients. Many were… pic.twitter.com/V1k7PEz2rJ

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) July 8, 2024

However, this death toll has since risen to at least 42, according to tallies from the towns and cities that were attacked.

Zelenskyy called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council over the barrage and urged Ukraine’s allies to deliver “a stronger response” to Russia’s attack.

Following the strikes yesterday, US President Joe Biden promised “new measures” to boost Ukraine’s air defences.

“Together with our allies, we will be announcing new measures to strengthen Ukraine’s air defences to help protect their cities and civilians from Russian strikes,” Biden said.

The attack came a day before a Nato summit in Washington where the alliance is marking its 75^th anniversary.

Arming Ukraine’s air defences is expected to top the agenda.

However, worried about dragging Nato closer to war with Russia, the United States and Germany have shut down any talk of giving Ukraine a clear invitation to join their alliance.

Instead, diplomats say they are eyeing calling Kyiv’s path to eventual membership “irreversible” in the summit declaration, and saying the country is on a “bridge” to joining.

With one eye on Trump, Nato members will vow to keep supporting Ukraine at the rate they have been so far since Moscow invaded – roughly €40 billion annually – for at least another year.

They will also agree the alliance will take more control of coordinating weapon deliveries to Ukraine from the US military in a move to help insulate supplies from any changes in Washington.

Russia meanwhile said four people were killed in Ukrainian strikes over the past 24 hours on the border area of Belgorod.

The mayor of Belgorod, the region’s administrative capital, said earlier that Ukrainian forces had launched overnight attacks throughout the region.

“The Ukrainian Armed Forces continue to attack Belgorod region’s settlements,” Valentin Demidov said on Telegram.

-With additional reporting from © AFP 2024 and Press Association