Rescuers work at Ohmatdyt Children's Hospital in Kyiv. /Oleksandr Ratushniak/Reuters
Russia missiles hit various Ukrainian cities on Monday morning, killing at least 29 civilians and badly damaging Kyiv's main children's hospital in the deadliest air strike in months, officials said.
Hundreds of people rushed to clear debris at the hospital, where windows were smashed and panels ripped off. Parents holding babies walked in the street, dazed and sobbing after the rare daylight aerial attack.
"It was scary. I couldn't breathe, I was trying to cover (my baby). I was trying to cover him with this cloth so that he could breathe," said Svitlana Kravchenko.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia fired more than 40 missiles, damaging residential and commercial buildings and infrastructure in Kyiv, his home city of Kryvyi Rih, the central city of Dnipro and two eastern cities.
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Ten people were killed and 35 wounded in the main wave of attacks on Kyiv, authorities said. Two hours later, debris from another missile attack hit a different hospital in Kyiv, killing four more and injuring three, the emergency services said.
Eleven were confirmed dead in Kryvyi Rih and over 40 wounded. Three people were killed in the eastern town of Pokrovsk where missiles hit an industrial facility. One person also died in the city of Dnipro.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces had carried out strikes on defense industry targets and aviation bases in Ukraine. Moscow has repeatedly denied targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure since it began what it calls its special military operation in February 2022.
Damage in Kyiv after Russia's missile attack./ Oleksandr Ratushniak/Reuters
NATO summit
The attack came a day before leaders of NATO countries begin a three-day summit of the military alliance that Zelenskyy is expected to attend with the conflict in Ukraine a key focus.
"I would also like to hear from our partners (about) a greater resilience and a strong response to the blow that Russia has once again dealt to our people, to our land, to our children," Zelenskyy said. "We will retaliate against these people, we will deliver a powerful response from our side to Russia, for sure. The question to our partners is: can they respond?"
Zelenskyy said Kyiv wanted to be able to use weapons supplied by its partners to hit the sites in Russia that attacks were being launched from.
"I think we would really like to receive such a decision from our partners," he added. "Or they would like to see the strikes again.
"This callous aggression - a total disregard for human life, jeopardizing European and Transatlantic security is why leaders will make significant security commitments to Ukraine this week," the U.S. ambassador to Kyiv, Bridget Brink, posted on X.
Plea for air defenses
Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said Ukraine still lacked enough air defenses and urged Kyiv's allies to supply more systems promptly to help protect its cities and infrastructure from regular Russian aerial attacks.
The power grid has already sustained so much damage from targeted Russian air strikes that began in March that electricity cuts have become widespread and the whirring sound of backup power generators in the streets has become ubiquitous.
DTEK, Ukraine's largest private power producer, said three electricity substations and electricity networks had been damaged in the capital.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the attack on the capital was one of the largest of the conflict.
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