Russian missiles destroy maternity and children’s hospital in Mariupol: “Children also under the rubble”
A hospital is said to have been hit in a Russian missile attack on Mariupol in Ukraine. This is reported by the board of the besieged port city. According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, there are also children under the rubble. He speaks of an “atrocity”.
Mariupol’s administration said “several bombs” had fallen on the hospital, and the “destruction was colossal”. It immediately indicated that the number of victims is not yet known.
Ukrainian MP Dmitry Gurin told BBC News that it is a maternity and children’s hospital. It has 600 beds. “It is one big complex”, it sounds. “Many women have been killed or injured. We don’t have any insight into the children and newborn babies yet.”
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Crater
According to the Ukrainian newspaper ‘Ukrayinska Pravda’, the bombs were thrown from planes.
According to eyewitnesses, the epicenter of the explosions would have been located in the courtyard, between the buildings of the maternity hospital and the children’s ward. There would also have been a huge crater.
Images distributed by the well-known Ukrainian human rights lawyer Oleksandra Matviichuk show a rescue worker descending into a crater, and it can be concluded that it is several meters deep.
The chaos in the besieged city is now complete. Yesterday, the Red Cross called the situation “apocalyptic”. There is looting, there are dead bodies in the streets and residents have had no access to food, drink, medicines, electricity and heating for several days.
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About 400,000 inhabitants live in the port city under constant bombardments. They have been surrounded by Russian troops for a week. According to Deputy Mayor Sergiy Orlov, a genocide is taking place. 1,170 residents are said to have already been killed and 47 are still buried in a mass grave today.
People drink melted snow and burn wood to warm themselves. “It’s medieval,” Orlov told the British newspaper ‘The Guardian’. He also speaks of “war crimes” as Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Twitter.
Ukraine accused Russia earlier today of failing to comply with the ceasefire, preventing Mariupol residents from leaving the city. Attempts to evacuate them have been unsuccessful since Saturday. Anton Gerashchenko – an adviser to the Ukrainian government – calls the situation “a humanitarian disaster”.
