Russian missiles hit a children’s hospital in Ukraine’s capital, killing at least 20 elsewhere

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian rockets killed at least seven people and hit a children’s hospital in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv on Monday, while another attack in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih killed at least 10.

The Russian barrage targeted five Ukrainian cities with more than 40 missiles of various types, hitting apartment buildings and public infrastructure, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskii said in a social media post.

At least 20 people were killed and around 50 people were injured across the country in the attack on Monday morning, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said. In Kryvyi Rih, 31 people were injured in addition to the 10 dead in what the head of the city’s administration, Oleksandr Vilkul, said was a massive rocket attack. Explosions were also reported by local officials in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region.

At Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital in Kyiv, rescuers were searching for people under the rubble of a partially collapsed wing of the facility, Zelenskyy said, adding that the number of casualties was not yet known.

“It is very important for the world not to be silent about this now and for everyone to see what Russia is and what it is doing,” Zelenskyi said on social media.

The attack comes on the eve of a three-day NATO summit in Washington that will consider how to reassure Ukraine of the alliance’s unwavering support and give Ukrainians hope that their country can get through Europe’s biggest conflict since the World War II.

A two-story building at the children’s hospital was partially destroyed. On the hospital’s 10-story main building, windows and doors were blown out and walls were blackened.

Medical personnel and local residents helped move the rubble as they searched for children and medical workers who might be trapped underneath. Volunteers formed a line, passing stones and debris to each other. Smoke was still billowing from the building, and volunteers and emergency crews worked in protective masks.

It was the most powerful Russian bombardment of Kiev in almost four months. The daylight attacks included hypersonic Kinzhal missiles, one of Russia’s most advanced weapons, the Ukrainian air force said. Kinzhal flies at 10 times the speed of sound, making it difficult to intercept. Buildings in the city shook from the explosion. An entire section of a multi-story residential building in a district of Kiev was destroyed, officials said.

The Kyiv city administration reported falling debris, possibly from intercepted missiles, in a handful of areas of Kyiv, sparking fires. Thick plumes of smoke rose from several districts of Kiev.

The head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Andrii Yermak, said the attack took place at a time when many people were on the city’s streets.

Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko said official assessments of the attack’s consequences were still ongoing.

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Hanna Arhirova and Illia Novikov, Associated Press