Russia Many dead in Russian missile attack on Ukraine
One day before the NATO summit in Washington, at least 20 people have been killed by heavy rocket attacks on Ukraine. Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko also wrote on Telegram that more than 50 people were injured.
08.07.2024, 13:39
SDA
The industrial city of Krywyj Rih in the south of Ukraine and the capital Kiev were particularly affected. In Kiev, a large children's hospital was hit, as President Volodymyr Selenskyj wrote on the social network X.
The number of victims in the hospital has not yet been determined. The head of state published a short video showing destroyed hospital rooms and traces of blood on the floor. Selensky spoke of people being buried. "Everyone is helping to clear the rubble - doctors and other people," he wrote.
Selensky did not specify whether the clinic had been attacked directly or whether the attack had been aimed at another object. But he wrote: "Russia cannot remain ignorant of where its missiles are flying and must be held accountable for all its crimes."
According to Health Minister Viktor Lyashko, departments for dialysis, cancer treatment, operating theaters and the intensive care unit in the children's hospital were damaged. Hundreds of local residents helped rescue workers to clear the rubble and search for victims.
Other cities also affected
According to initial information from the city administration, at least seven people were killed and at least nine injured in Kiev, a city of three million. The private electricity supplier DTEK reported damage to three transformer stations in the capital. According to the military administration of Krywyj Rih, at least ten people were killed and more than 30 injured after being hit. Damage was also reported in the large city of Dnipro. Other targets included the frontline cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk. No information was provided about hits on military targets or armaments factories.
According to Selenskyj, the Russian military used more than 40 missiles in the attack. It was unusual that the heavy attack took place during the day at the beginning of the working week. Air strikes using drones, cruise missiles and rockets had already taken place during the night.
Ukraine has been fending off a Russian invasion with Western help for over two years and has repeatedly pushed for the deployment of modern air defense systems. According to the latest information, Ukraine has received four of the particularly powerful US-made Patriot systems, but believes it needs many more.
Netherlands wants to send Patriot
Another system is to come from the Netherlands. This was confirmed by Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp and Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmanns from the new government at a meeting with the Ukrainian Foreign Office chief Dmytro Kuleba, as reported by the Unian agency. The previous government in The Hague had announced in June that a system would be made available. An exact date for the delivery was not given.
Romania is holding out the prospect of another Patriot system. Kiev is also hoping for further commitments at the NATO summit, which begins on Tuesday in Washington. Among other things, up to six Patriot systems from Israel are being discussed. The issue of support for Ukraine is a key topic for the meeting of the Western defense alliance.
Orban on a peace mission of his own devising
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has recently tried to act as a mediator in the war, which has been going on for more than two years, with visits to Kiev, Moscow and Beijing. Even though Hungary currently holds the EU Council Presidency, the mission has been criticized in Brussels as uncoordinated and seen as Orban's private initiative. President Vladimir Putin is not sending a message to US President Joe Biden or the NATO summit through Orban, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in Moscow.
