At least 17 adults were injured on Wednesday in the Russian bombardment of a pediatric hospital in Mariupol, a port in southeastern Ukraine, regional official Pavlo Kirilenko announced.
“There are 17 confirmed injuries among the hospital staff,” Kirilenko told Ukrainian television, adding that according to the first reports “there were no children” among the injured, as well as no deaths.
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Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky posted a video on Twitter showing the extent of the destruction at the medical complex.
The attack “literally destroyed” a maternity hospital in the city center that also included a pediatric unit, Kirilenko, the leader of the southern Donetsk region, said on Facebook.
He added that a Russian pilot evidently knew where the bomb would fall.
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Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, without denying the attack, that Ukrainian “nationalist battalions” had evacuated staff and patients and deployed firing positions at the site.
Mariupol. Direct strike of Russian troops at the maternity hospital. People, children are under the wreckage. Atrocity! How much longer will the world be an accomplice ignoring terror? Close the sky right now! Stop the killings! You have power but you seem to be losing humanity. pic.twitter.com/FoaNdbKH5k
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) March 9, 2022
Zelensky condemned the attack, calling it an “atrocity”. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson denounced the “immoral” attack.
“Few things are more immoral than attacking the vulnerable and defenseless,” Johnson tweeted.
“It is appalling to see the barbaric use of military force against innocent civilians,” said White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki at a press conference.
Mariupol, on the coast of the Sea of Azov, is surrounded by Russian forces, which shelled the city despite promises of a ceasefire to allow civilians to evacuate.
Videos released by Kirilenko and city authorities show the moment of evacuation from the hospital, with one woman on a stretcher and another helped by two men as she leaves the building.
The footage also shows a huge hole in the hospital courtyard, tree branches torn off and vehicles on fire.(I)
Source: Eluniverso
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