Ukraine war latest: Putin's deadly hypersonic missile attack on Ukrainian cities sparks outrage - killing at least 30 as children's hospital hit (2024)

Amid an outpouring of anger towards Russia following damage to a children's hospital in Kyiv, Ukraine has also been the subject of solidarity among world leaders.

Those countries offering support in the wake of the attacks include Germany, whose health minister said he had told his Ukrainian counterpart that "we will take in sick children in need at any time".

"The next rescue flight will start on Wednesday," Karl Lauterbach said.

"Putin has shown again by his targeted attack on the children's hospital: he is a war criminal."

As detailed in our previous post, Ukraine has vowed to retaliate to the huge attacks launched by Russia today.

While it is unclear whether this was part of the promised response, the governor of Russia's Belgorod border region said three civilians were killed and several others wounded when Ukrainian shells hit a village today.

Vyacheslav Gladkov said one man had died of his wounds in the village of Nikolskoye and two more in a nearby hospital.

As we have been reporting, Russia launched a wave of attacks on cities across Ukraine today.

Among the many buildings hit was the main children's hospital in Kyiv.

At least 36 civilians were killed in the strikes across the country.

Parents holding babies walked in the street outside the hospital, dazed and sobbing after the rare daylight aerial attack.

The government proclaimed a day of mourning on Tuesday for one of the worst air attacks of the war, which it said demonstrated thatUkraineurgently needs an upgrade of its air defences from its Western allies.

Air defences shot down 30 of 38 missiles, the air force said. Fifty civilian buildings, including residential houses, a business centre and two medical facilities were damaged in Kyiv, the central cities of Kryvyi Rih and Dnipro and two eastern cities, the interior minister said.

An online video showed a missile falling from the sky towards the children's hospital, followed by a large explosion. The location of the video was verified from visible landmarks. The Security Service of*ckraineidentified the missile as a Kh-101 cruise missile.

Twenty-two people, including two children, were killed in Kyiv and 82 more were wounded in the main missile volley and another strike that came two hours later, officials said.

Eleven were confirmed dead in the Dnipropetrovsk region and 64 were wounded, regional officials said.

Three people were killed in the eastern town of Pokrovsk where missiles hit an industrial facility, the governor said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saidUkrainewould retaliate and called on Kyiv's Western allies to give a firm response to the attack.

"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?" he said.

Ukrainian tennis player Elina Svitolina was tearful after her victory at Wimbledon today following the news of the attacks on her home country.

Svitolina beat her opponent 6-2, 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals.

She wore a black ribbon during the match.

"It's a very difficult day today for Ukrainian people," she said in a post-match interview.

"So yes, it was not easy to focus today on the match. Since the morning, it's very difficult to read the news."

Ukraine has discussed today's deadly Russian onslaught with the International Criminal Court, the country's prosecutor general has said.

Andriy Kostin said he spoke to ICC prosecutor Karim Khan about the attacks and vowed to send "all information and evidence" to the court.

More than 30 people have been killed across Ukraine today.

By Deborah Haynes, security and defence editor

Military insiders had been expecting Vladimir Putin to launch some kind of new attack against Ukraine ahead of the NATO summit in Washington this week to dominate the agenda.

Monday's barrage of missile strikes will feed the fears of some lawmakers within allied countries that Kyiv cannot win and should be pressured into accepting some kind of peace agreement given that Russia is showing no sign of retreat.

At the same time, the devastating bombardment – which hit the main Ukrainian children’s hospital where some of the most poorly boys and girls are being treated – will also amplify Ukraine's demands for more air defence weapons to defend its skies and more lethal weapons to take the fight to Russia by striking more targets inside the Russian mainland.

As well as the attack on Ukraine, there have also been fears that Moscow could attempt a covert, deniable assault against a NATO member state ahead of the Washington summit - such as a cyber attack against critical infrastructure – against to demonstrate its willingness to violate global rules and norms and also to test NATO's responses.

A major rescue operation has been taking place in Kyiv today after the strike on Okhmatdyt children's hospital that injured at least 16 people and forced the evacuation of patients.

The strike caused a two-storey wing of the hospital to partially collapse, with rescuers still searching through the rubble hours later.

Volunteers formed a line, passing bricks and other debris to each other.

Our security and defence editor Deborah Haynes says the hospital is a key facility treating the most sick and vulnerable of children, including cancer patients.

The UN Security Council will meet tomorrow at the request of several countries after a Russian missile attack on Kyiv saw a children's hospital struck.

Diplomats said the UK, France, Ecuador, Slovenia and the US all called for a meeting of the 15-member council.

"We will call out Russia's cowardly and depraved attack onthe hospital," the UK's UN ambassador, Barbara Woodward, said.

Away from Kyiv, at least 11 people have been killed and 68 injured in Russian missile strikes on Ukraine's Dnipro region today, according to an official.

Dnipro regional governor Serhii Lysak said three teenagers, two girls and one boy who lived in the city of Kryvyi Rih, were among the wounded.

In a post to Telegram, Mr Lysak said people "did not have time to recover" from the first attacks this morning before the region was targeted for a second time.

"Sometimes it seemed that not only the walls were shaking, but also the ground under our feet," he said.

By Ivor Bennett, Moscow correspondent

The timing of this attack feels very significant, coming on the eve of the NATO summit.

It's also been matched by a verbal offensive, which underlines the extent to which Moscow is waging an information war, in tandem with the one on the ground.

In a statement on Telegram, Russia's ministry of defence says it targeted "objects of the Ukrainian military-industrial infrastructure".

There's no mention of a children's hospital.

But it denies targeting civilian infrastructure and blames the destruction on Kyiv, asserting (without evidence) that it was caused by a Ukrainian air defence missile.

It even suggests a reason for Kyiv's apparent act of self-harm - to garner support from NATO.

And it's this sentence, I think, which shows why the timing of Russia's latest offensive is no coincidence.

As Western leaders gather in Washington, it feels like Russia is trying to flex its muscles - to show them that it has the upper hand on the battlefield, and that supporting Ukraine is futile.

But that's not the only thing Russia wants NATO to notice.

India's prime minister Narendra Modi is in Moscow, for his first visit to Russia since the start of the Ukraine war.

An ally of the West, India has also become a key trading partner for Russia, buying up its oil on the cheap after Western markets became cut off.

For Vladimir Putin, though, it's more than that - it's about showing the West, that despite their best efforts, he isn't that isolated after all.

Together with the offensive in Ukraine, this all feels like another Putin power-play, hoping it might prompt his opponents to rethink their strategy.