The explosion tore off the facade of one of the buildings of the hospital complex and damaged several others. One pregnant woman was evacuated on a stretcher; footage from the scene showed a long, bleeding gash on her left thigh. Another pregnant woman, bleeding from her forehead, came down the stairs with a faded rose print blanket thrown over her shoulders and her belongings in a purple plastic bag. The flaming car stood in a square littered with twisted, burnt trees.
The story continues under the ad
“What kind of country is this, Russia, which is afraid of hospitals and maternity hospitals and destroys them?” This was stated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a nightly video, looking almost crying. “Were pregnant women going to shoot at [the Russian city of] Rostov? Did someone in the maternity hospital scold the Russian speakers? What was it? Was it the denazification of the hospital?”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned a Russian airstrike on a maternity hospital in Mariupol on March 9 as an “atrocity”. (AP)
The bombing interrupted another devastating day in Ukraine, where leaders were increasingly calling for more Western help, while U.S. officials warned that Russia appeared to be launching more indiscriminate attacks and making small but strategic gains in key cities. US officials also warned that Russian rhetoric about chemical weapons could signal preparations for a false-flag attack.
Officials fear the coming days could be particularly grim for refugees and Ukrainians who have camped in basements and metro stations trying to avoid Russian bombing. The United Nations said on Wednesday it had recorded 516 civilian deaths, including 37 children, in the fighting, but the statement said “the real numbers are much higher.”
A video posted to social media on March 9 and verified by The Washington Post shows damage to a children’s and antenatal clinic in Mariupol. (Telegram)
This was stated by the governor of the region, which includes Mariupol, Pavel Kirilenko in a video posted on Telegram. that 17 people injured in the terrorist attack in Mariupol were mostly military personnel. It wasn’t immediately clear how overcrowded the hospital was when it came under attack, as Mariupol was surrounded by Russian troops and city life largely came to a standstill. The patients appear to have used at least some of the land-based maternity wards.
The attack drew immediate global condemnation, along with promises of more support for the affected country.
The story continues under the ad
“There are few things more depraved than targeting the vulnerable and defenseless,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted.
World Health Organization said Earlier Wednesday, 18 attacks on medical facilities in Ukraine were confirmed. At least 10 people were killed and 16 injured, the organization said. said.
The Russian military appears to be throwing inexperienced soldiers into the fray, admitting on Wednesday that at least a few conscripts have been sent into combat despite orders from Russian President Vladimir Putin to leave the fighting to the professionals. Putin on Wednesday ordered the military prosecutor’s office to investigate who was responsible for disobeying the order, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Adding to concerns about escalation, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki warned that Russia could be planning a false flag chemical weapons attack after Russian officials said they had evidence that the United States supported a biological weapons program. weapons in Ukraine, and that “Ukrainian nationalists” were preparing a “provocation” with chemical weapons near the Russian border near Kharkov. US officials denied the accusation.
“Now that Russia has made these false claims,” Psaki tweeted, “we all need to be on the lookout for Russia possibly not using chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine or organizing a false flag operation using them.”
The story continues under the ad
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has demanded a ceasefire with Russia so that repairs can be made, warning that once the standby diesel generators run out of fuel, “the cooling systems of the spent nuclear fuel storage facility will shut down, making radiation leaks inevitable.” The International Atomic Energy Agency spoke a little less urgently, saying that On Wednesday, Twitter said the loss of power “disrupts [a] a key security element to ensure uninterrupted power supply,” but added that “in this case, the IAEA does not see a critical impact on safety.”
Both Russia and Ukraine have announced routes to allow people to leave hard-hit cities. But after blaming Putin’s forces for shelling the escape routes for four consecutive days, Ukrainian officials remain skeptical about announcements of a temporary ceasefire.
Officials in Izyum, one of the cities due for evacuation, said on Wednesday that efforts to evacuate civilians had been compromised by shelling from Russian forces. Other evacuations appear to be ongoing. Local authorities in the northeast of Sumy region, from where 5,000 people were able to evacuate a day earlier, said people are leaving in private cars and plan to load 22 buses, giving preference to pregnant women, women with children, the elderly and people with disabilities. .
Temperatures across much of Ukraine can hover around 14 degrees Fahrenheit by Friday morning, with a gusty east wind making the air even harsher. And parts of northeast Ukraine could get up to four inches of snow on Friday. Severe frosts are expected situation in the country it is more difficult – both for soldiers and civilians.
The story continues under the ad
There are “signs” that the Russians are dropping “stupid munitions,” the official said, but added that “it’s not entirely clear whether this is intentional” or because the precision-guided munitions were damaged in some way.
“While we can’t prove that any blunt bomb hit a specific target… what we see is manifested in increased damage to civilian infrastructure and civilian casualties,” the official said. Avoiding such casualties, the official added, “cannot be helped with unguided bombs.”
The story continues under the ad
The Biden administration has been adamant that it will not involve US troops in the war and has so far rejected calls by Zelenskiy and others for a no-fly zone over Ukraine, saying it could bring it into direct conflict with the US and NATO military. Russian forces. But as the crackdown on major cities continues, the humanitarian situation is getting worse, especially in places like Mariupol, which is now “isolated” according to a defense ministry spokesman.
According to a Defense Ministry spokesman, Russia launched more than 710 missiles, about half of which were launched from Ukrainian territory. Over the past 24 hours, Russian troops have also made headway in storming Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest population center, closing within 20 kilometers of the city center in the country’s northeast. Russian forces have also advanced about 15 kilometers north of Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine, according to the US, representing yet another territorial gain.
If the southern city falls, it could become a springboard for a Russian offensive against the large port city of Odessa, according to a Defense Ministry spokesman.
The story continues under the ad
The Pentagon believes Ukraine still has most of its aircraft “in their possession and operational,” the official said, but the Russians have anti-aircraft missile systems that “virtually cover the entire country.”
“You have to assume that they put it into practice before they decide to fly manned aircraft,” said a US Department of Defense spokesman.
This stance appears to have generated some skepticism in the United States about the logic behind sending more strike aircraft to Ukraine, as Poland has been pushing for. On Tuesday evening, the United States rejected a Polish offer to move MiG-29 military aircraft to a US base in Germany so they could be used to help Ukraine at the behest of the United States.
The story continues under the ad
On Wednesday, Psaki reiterated that such a plan raises “obvious concerns.”
“It doesn’t take a military expert to understand why flying planes from a US airbase to … a country where there is a war is not in our interests and not in the interests of NATO,” she said.
Psaki also cited problems with alternative proposals to transport these planes from Poland to Ukraine. “Carrying them down the street,” she said, “was not as easy as people might think.
“They need to be taken apart and reassembled,” Psaki said. “You have to have people who can put these planes back together. You have to make sure that they can be moved safely through the territory of the contested country.”
The story continues under the ad
But US officials have also acknowledged that Ukrainian leaders may feel the need to push for any help they can get.
“If I were in the place of President Zelensky, I am sure that I would ask for everything possible … to help the Ukrainian people,” Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said at a press conference with British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.
Truss was more direct in his skepticism.
According to her, the best way to protect Ukraine is “anti-tank weapons and air defense systems.”
Birnbaum, Demirjian and Firozi reported from Washington. Carly Domb Sadof, Elise Samuels, Amy B. Wang and Karen DeYoung of Washington, and Carla Adam, Annabelle Timsit and Adela Suliman of London contributed to this report.