UN Security Council meets over attack on Kyiv children’s hospital

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The United Nations Security Council will meet on Tuesday over a Russian attack on Ukraine that hit Kyiv’s main children’s hospital, diplomats said.

Russia fired a missile at the hospital in broad daylight on Monday and also bombarded other cities in Ukraine with missiles, killing at least 36 civilians in the most devastating wave of airstrikes in months.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the Russian attacks in the strongest possible terms, said his spokesman Stephane Dujarric. Guterres found the attack on the children’s hospital and another medical facility “particularly shocking,” said Dujarric.

“Attacks against civilians and civilian objects are prohibited under international humanitarian law. Any such attacks are unacceptable and must stop immediately,” he said.

The Security Council meeting scheduled for Tuesday morning was requested by Great Britain, France, Ecuador, Slovenia and the USA.

“We will denounce Russia’s cowardly and despicable attack on the hospital,” British UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward said in an X-post.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces had attacked defense industry targets and air bases, denying that the attacks were on civilians, although thousands of civilians have been killed in the attacks since the invasion in February 2022.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Philippa Fletcher)