Children’s hospital attacked, 31 dead in rocket attacks in Ukraine

Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital in Kyiv was hit by a Russian missile attack that also targeted several other cities.

According to official figures, at least 31 people were killed and 112 injured in Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy then called for the UN Security Council to be convened.

Among those hit were five cities – Kyiv, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, Sloviansk and Kramatorsk – after Ukraine said it had shot down 30 of 38 missiles fired by Russia.

Russia, meanwhile, denied carrying out attacks on civilian infrastructure, calling this “absolutely untrue” and claiming the damage was caused by a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile that misfired and fell back on Kyiv.

“It is very important that the world does not remain silent about this now and that everyone sees what Russia is and what it is doing,” Ukrainian President Zelensky said on social media.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak said calls for an immediate ceasefire would “provoke Russia into further attacks.”

“The leaders of Hungary and China again called for ‘an immediate ceasefire’… And their purpose is to create a false feeling: the attacker has the right to kill because he speaks of ‘peace’, and the victim should not defend himself,” Podolyak said on X.

His comments come following a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Beijing.