Mariana Vishegirskaya.Photo: Evgeniy Maloletka/AP/Shutterstock
Russian military forces severely damaged a children’s hospital and maternity ward in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, Ukraine PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyysaid Wednesday.
“People, children are under the wreckage,“Zelenskyy tweeted. “Atrocity!”
Ukrainian officials said that they are working to determine how many people have been killed or injured from the strike,the Associated Press reported. Mariupol’s city council said in a post on the social media site Telegram that the damage is “colossal,” and that “until recently, children were treated” at the hospital.
Zelenskyy’s tweet included a video of destroyed walls, blasted-out windows and extensive debris. People were shown leaving the facility with injuries in other social media videos,theWashington Postreported.
The World Health Organization said that they’ve verified 18 attacks on health care facilities in Ukraine so far, including 10 deaths and 16 injuries. By striking health care facilities, “these attacks deprive whole communities of health care,” WHO director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
“Attacks on health care violate international law and endanger lives,” WHO said in a tweet. “Health workers, hospitals and ambulances should NEVER be targets.”
Along with the deaths and injuries from bombing and gunfire, Russia’s invasion has disrupted health care services and created critical drug shortages in Ukraine.
And as thousands of civilians in Mariupol and other cities evacuate to neighboring countries like Poland, Slovakia, Moldova and Romania, the influx could overwhelm their health systems. WHO, which has also delivered extensive supplies to Ukraine, said last week that the countries are managing so far, “but this is as of today,” WHO Europe director Hans Klugetold Reuters.
“We have seen in the past that health systems have a breaking point, and the situation is very unpredictable.”
With NATO forces massing in the region around Ukraine, various countries have also pledged aid or military support to the resistance. Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyycalled for peace talks — so far unsuccessful — while urging his country to fight back.
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Putin insists Ukraine has historic ties to Russia and he is acting in the best security interests of his country. Zelenskyy vowed not to bend.
“Nobody is going to break us, we’re strong, we’re Ukrainians,“he told the European Unionin a speech in the early days of the fighting, adding, “Life will win over death. And light will win over darkness.”
source: people.com
