A Russian missile struck a children’s hospital in Ukraine’s capital Monday, part of a barrage of aerial attacks on areas throughout the country that killed at least 31 people and injured another 154.

“Russian terrorists have once again launched a massive missile attack on Ukraine,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. “Different cities — Kyiv, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, Slovyansk, Kramatorsk.”

Zelenskyy said Russia targeted the five cities with more than 40 missiles of different types in the daytime assault that hit apartment buildings and public infrastructure. Ukraine’s air force said it intercepted 30 missiles.

Authorities said seven people were killed in the Kyiv attack, while strikes in Kryvyi Rih, Zelenskyy’s birthplace in central Ukraine, killed 10 people and injured 47.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the attacks, calling the strikes on the Kyiv hospital and on another medical facility in the capital’s Dniprovsky district “particularly shocking,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

“Directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects is prohibited by international humanitarian law, and any such attacks are unacceptable and must end immediately,” Dujarric said.

The United Nations Security Council will meet on Tuesday to discuss the Russian attack, diplomats said.

Russia’s defense ministry said the strikes targeted Ukrainian defense plants and military air bases and were successful. It denied aiming at any civilian facilities and claimed without evidence that pictures from Kyiv indicated the damage was caused by a Ukrainian air defense missile.

Col. Yurii Ignat of the Ukrainian air force said Russia has been improving the effectiveness of its airstrikes, equipping its missiles with enhancements, including so-called heat traps that deflect air defense systems.

In Monday’s attack, the cruise missiles flew at low altitudes — only up to 50 meters off the ground — making them harder to hit, he said in comments sent to The Associated Press.

Western countries, led by the United States, have backed Ukraine with billions of dollars of armaments. They are holding a three-day NATO summit in Washington starting Tuesday to look at how they can reassure Kyiv of the alliance’s unwavering support and offer Ukrainians hope that their country can come through Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II.

Czech President Petr Pavel said the hospital attack was “inexcusable” and that he expected to see a consensus at the NATO summit that Russia was “the biggest threat for which we must be thoroughly prepared.”

Zelenskyy said during a visit to Poland he hopes the summit will provide more air defense systems for Ukraine.

The Ukrainian leader said rescuers were digging through rubble at Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital in Kyiv where the number of casualties was not yet known. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said at least 16 people, seven of them children, were injured in the attack, which caused a partial collapse of a two-story wing of the facility.

On the hospital’s main 10-story building, windows and doors were blown out and walls blackened. Blood was splattered on the floor in one room. The intensive care unit, operating theaters and oncology departments all were damaged, officials said.

The attack forced the evacuation of the hospital and its temporary closure. Some mothers carried their children away on their backs, while others waited in the courtyard with their children as calls to doctors’ phones rang unanswered.

Zelenskyy said on the X media platform, “Russia cannot claim ignorance of where its missiles are flying and must be held fully accountable for all its crimes. Against people, against children, against humanity in general. It is very important that the world does not remain silent about this now, and that everyone sees what Russia is and what it is doing.”

In the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, authorities said missiles hit an industrial factory, killing at least three people.

Ukraine’s air force said earlier Monday the country’s air defenses had shot down three Kh-101 cruise missiles over the Cherkasy and Zhytomyr regions.

The Russian attack overnight included a fourth Kh-101 missile, as well as two Iskander-M ballistic missiles, the Ukrainian air force said.

Serhiy Lysak, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, said on Telegram that Russian forces attacked several villages with kamikaze drones and artillery, injured four people and damaged several buildings.

In the central region of Sumy, the regional military administration said on Telegram that Russian aerial drones dropped explosives on three communities.

Russia’s defense ministry reported Monday its air defenses destroyed two Ukrainian aerial drones over the Belgorod and Voronezh regions.

The governor of Voronezh said no injuries or damage were reported.

Peace talks

Chinese President Xi Jinping said Monday the international community should work to create the conditions for Russia and Ukraine to hold direct negotiations.

Xi made the remarks during a visit by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Chinese state media said.

Orban’s trip to China came days after he had similar talks in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin that were criticized by Ukraine and the European Union.

Some information for this story was provided by Reuters and The Associated Press.

Source: voanews.com