What we know about the Russian attack on the children's hospital in Kiev

A violent missile attack from Moscow hit the children's hospital in Kiev.There are at least 30 dead and dozens injured.

On the eve of the NATO summit scheduled for Tuesday in the United States, Moscow launches one of the worst attacks since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, started in February 2022.At least 30 people were killed and dozens injured after the Russian army launched a missile attack on the Okhmadyt children's hospital in Kiev, the largest in the capital.The offensive was part of a larger operation involving numerous civilian targets, including at least two medical facilities and residential buildings.Zelensky's condemnation - which heralds responses - from the entire international community, including Italy, is harsh.

Digging under the rubble of the Okhmadyt hospital

Okhmatdyt Children's Hospital is the country's main treatment center for children with cancer.Since the first months of the Russian invasion of Ukraine it had also functioned as a refuge for mothers and their children trying to escape the bombing of Moscow.Built in the 1970s, the property does not have beds or equipment for adult use.According to reconstructions, the attack destroyed a large part of the hospital's toxicology department.Hundreds of people rushed to remove debris from the children's hospital, where attempts were being made to extract survivors waiting for dialysis from the devastated windows.Other people were rummaging under the rubble looking for missing people.Some international media reported parents holding their children in their arms and walking down the street, stunned and sobbing.Officials and emergency personnel said it was not immediately clear how many doctors and patients were trapped under the rubble.Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko called the attack one of the heaviest attacks on the capital since the Russian invasion in February 2022.

Tajani:“War crimes that must be condemned by the entire international community”

As the first information from Kiev emerged, prompt condemnation came from the international community:“I am struck by the images of the bombings in Kiev which also hit a children's hospital.War crimes that must be condemned by the entire international community.The Government will continue to defend the sovereignty of Ukraine and its people,” Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani wrote on Twitter.Previously, the coordinator for United Nations humanitarian operations in Ukraine, Denise Brown, had defined the choice to target a children's hospital as "inconceivable".The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrel, instead invoked the "need for air defense now".

Putin strikes on the eve of the NATO summit 

The barrage of attacks occurred in conjunction with intense diplomatic activity on multiple fronts.In Poland, Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced a security agreement to strengthen defense cooperation against Moscow.Commenting on the news of the attack on the hospital, Zelensky promised an immediate response:“Russia cannot ignore where its missiles fall and must be held fully accountable for all its crimes:against individuals, against children and against humanity as a whole,” he wrote on Telegram.

Meanwhile, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán - who just started his presidency of the European Council a few days ago - was visiting Beijing to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and discuss a potential peace agreement with Ukraine.A completely unexpected appointment and without any mandate to represent the Twenty-seven.

But, above all, the brutal images of the Okhmadyt hospital precede by a few hours the start of the summit of NATO member states which will take place from 9 to 11 July in Washington, United States, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of 'Alliance.It will be Sweden's first time as a new member and we will witness the definitive passing of the baton from Stoltenberg to Rutte as general secretary, but there will be two fundamental issues.First, military aid to Ukraine.In this regard, General Secretary Stoltenberg announced his intention to discuss a plan that provides for the creation of a new command for the management of military aid in Kiev, which will be based in Germany and which will include around 700 soldiers led by a general of the alliance.The headquarters will also serve as a logistics and training center for Kiev's forces.The other fundamental issue will be that relating to the conditions of Joe Biden, who is being asked by both US public opinion and an increasingly large fringe of Democrats to take a step back and withdraw his candidacy for the White House.

Moscow's other targets

The attack on the children's hospital indirectly involved other facilities in the city.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that more than 40 missiles of different types hit apartment buildings and public infrastructure in five cities:Kiev, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.Missile debris fell on another medical center in the city's Dniprovsky neighborhood, killing seven people, Klitschko said.The same dynamic allegedly involved seven other people in a shopping center in the Solomyansky district of the capital.Elsewhere in the country, at least ten people died in attacks in the central town of Kryvyi Rih, west of Zaporizhzhia, while three others died in Pokrovsk, eastern Ukraine.Dtek, Ukraine's largest private energy producer, said three substations and electricity grids were damaged in the capital.