Local authorities and media in Mariupol claim that Russia’s attack on the city has completely destroyed a children’s hospital.
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It reports the news agency Reuters.
The massive attacks on the barricaded city are described as a humanitarian disaster by, among others, MSF.
There are many killed and wounded, writes the local TV station 24 Channel on their websites.
According to local authorities, the attack took place on Wednesday afternoon, and led to enormous damage, writes NTB. There must be a maternity ward in the building.
According to the governor of the Donetsk People’s Republic, the air strike at the children’s hospital took place during the ceasefire that had been decided in advance, writes Reuters.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemns the attack:
– Direct attacks by Russian troops at the maternity hospital. People, children are in the ruins. Cruel! How much longer should the host be an accomplice who ignores terror? he writes on Telegram.
– Close the sky right now! Stop the killings! urges the President further.
Burial dead in mass graves
The situation in Marupol is now so precarious that the authorities have begun burying the dead in mass graves, writes the news agency AP.
The frequency of the bombing is said to have led to the death of both dead Ukrainian soldiers and civilians in such mass graves.
The morgues in the port city are overcrowded and public employees decided that it was not possible to wait to hold individual funerals. Therefore, a deep ditch must have been dug in an old cemetery in the heart of the city. Dead people are now being laid there, who are being picked up from morgues and private homes.
–If the attacks stop long enough for it to be safe to do the job of closing the mass grave, the rough workers will carry this out on Thursday, the AP informs.
On Tuesday, March 9, work at the mass grave had to stop because parts of the bombs hit the cemetery. The incident led to damage to the cemetery wall.
The risk of being killed is so high that neither family members nor grieving friends can accompany the dead to the grave.
WHO: Relief work does not work
There have been 18 documented attacks on health institutions, health workers and ambulances in Ukraine since Russia launched the invasion almost two weeks ago.
This was stated by the World Health Organization (WHO) at a press conference on Wednesday.
It was also stated that the organization has delivered 81 tonnes of medical supplies to Ukraine. WHO Chief of Emergency Management Michael Ryan acknowledges that supplies do not make much of a difference.
“Right now it’s about putting a bandage on deadly wounds,” he says.
1 of 3Photo: Evgeniy Maloletka / AP
Affected by frostbite and war suffering
War-affected Ukrainians are particularly vulnerable to frostbite and hypothermia (cooling), respiratory diseases, heart disease, cancer and mental illness, says WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
He also says that WHO staff have been sent to Ukraine’s neighbors to provide psychological assistance to refugees.
Ukrainian authorities stated on Tuesday that 61 hospitals are out of operation as a result of Russian attacks.
Ukraine has repeatedly in recent weeks accused Russia of deliberately attacking civilian targets, including hospitals. Russia denies deliberately attacking civilian targets.
UN: At least 516 civilians killed
At least 516 civilians have been killed and 908 injured in war-torn Ukraine, according to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
It reports Sky News Wednesday.
OHCHR uses strict criteria and only reports figures on deaths and injuries that they themselves have been able to confirm. Thus, the real numbers are probably higher.
According to the UN, most were killed by bombing and airstrikes.
The reactions from top international politicians are many and strong.
After the attack on the children’s hospital in Mariopol, Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted that Britain was looking at the possibility of helping Ukraine defend itself against Russian airstrikes.
In a speech Tuesday afternoon condemned NATO General Jens Stoltenberg Russia’s warfare in Ukraine.
– The pillow has started a war against Ukraine only because Ukraine has chosen to go its own way: against democracy and freedom. Our message to President Putin is clear: Stop the war, Stoltenberg said.
He was unusually strong in his choice of words and sent a clear message to the President of Russia:
– He wants to extinguish the flame for freedom and independence in Ukraine. But no matter how dark it gets in the coming days and weeks, the flame will continue to burn. Europe and the United States will help keep the flame alive, Stoltenberg assured.
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