Injured children, frightened adults, white doctors’ coats stained with blood—these are the consequences of yet another Russian combined attack against Ukrainians. On the morning of 8 July, Russian forces launched a missile strike on Kyiv; Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital, Okhmatdyt, was hit.
Hospital buildings have been damaged; operating rooms and wards destroyed; windows and doors blown out. In the first minutes after the strike, the hospital echoed with children’s crying and the screams of hundreds of children. Rescuers and medical workers are on site. Ordinary Kyiv residents are helping clear the rubble. There is still no official information on the number of people killed or injured at the children’s hospital.
The head of the Office of the President, Andrii Yermak, wrote that “the Russians deliberately targeted children today.”
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko reported that, as a result of the massive Russian attack, as of 15:00 there were 28 confirmed deaths: 11 in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and 17 in Kyiv. A total of 112 people were injured: 62 in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, 48 in the capital, and two in Kyiv Oblast. Today, Russia damaged more than 50 civilian sites, including residential buildings, a business center, and two medical facilities.
“Emergency rescue operations are continuing at the sites of the heaviest strikes. Rescuers, police officers, and utility workers are at work. Special thanks to all the caring people who rushed to help. Unity makes us stronger,” Klymenko noted.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine is initiating an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council following Russia’s attacks. The President also noted: “The Okhmatdyt children’s hospital in Kyiv—one of the most important not only in Ukraine but also in Europe, a children’s hospital in every sense of the word. Okhmatdyt has saved and restored the health of thousands of children. Now the hospital has been damaged by a Russian strike; people are under the rubble; the exact number of injured and killed is currently unknown. Everyone is helping to clear the rubble right now: doctors and ordinary people.”
In addition, the enemy attack caused damage in several districts of the capital. The Kyiv City Military Administration said that an office building was damaged in Solomianskyi District; in Holosiivskyi District, debris fell near a residential building; in Dniprovskyi District, debris is burning in a residential area. A private house was also damaged in Darnytskyi District, and a building is on fire in Desnianskyi District.
Assistance hubs have been set up in three districts of Kyiv, where those affected by the shelling can submit applications for one-time financial aid and receive consultations.
This piece was produced with the support of The Fritt Ord Foundation.
Worked on this piece:
Researcher, text author: Vira Labych
Photo editor: Viacheslav Ratynskyi
Literary editor: Yuliia Futei
