UN official says attacking hospitals a war crime after bombing of Kyiv children's clinic

Ukraine says Russian forces hit Kyiv children's hospital with cruise missile

Rescue personnel clear the rubble of a destroyed building at the Ohmatdyt Children's Hospital, a day after a missile attack in Kyiv. AFP

A senior UN official warned on Tuesday that attacking hospitals is a war crime, following a missile strike on a children's medical centre in Ukraine that Kyiv has blamed on Russia.

“Intentionally directing attacks against a protected hospital is a war crime and perpetrators must be held to account,” Joyce Msuya, acting undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs, told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council in New York.

“These incidents are part of a deeply concerning pattern of systemic attacks harming health care and other civilian infrastructure across Ukraine.”

Ukraine said on Monday that a children's hospital had been hit by a Russian cruise missile whose components had been produced by Nato member countries. Following the attack, Ukrainian officials announced a day of mourning in the capital.

The Ukrainian Interior Ministry said it had completed the search for survivors at the hospital. It said that two people there had been killed and 32 wounded.

“At the time of the attack, 627 children were in the hospital,” military authorities in Kyiv added.

The UN, however, indicated that investigators were still in the process of verifying these figures while rescue workers, hospital staff and volunteers continue the search for survivors under the rubble.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US ambassador to the UN, called the attack “chilling” and reminded council members that it “is not a stand-alone”.

Kyiv children's hospital hit by in Russian missile attacks – in pictures

“Russia started this war and Russia can end it at any time … Russia cannot win this war,” she said.

Slovenia also condemned Russia’s systemic attacks on medical facilities, calling them “brutal”, while China told the warring parties to “show political will” and to start “peace talks at an early date”.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been urging allies to bolster his country's air defence systems and is expected to renew those calls at the three-day Nato summit, which began on Tuesday in Washington.

Russia, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council, blamed the attack on the Ukrainian air defence system.

Moscow's UN envoy Vasily Nebenzya said no matter how Ukraine and its Western sponsors try to represent the tragedy as a result of an intentional Russian strike, the “version does not hold water”.

“If this had been a Russian strike, there would have been nothing left of the building and all the children and most of the adults would have been killed and not wounded,” he stated.

“We really regret that the council has been drawn into this dirty propaganda campaign of Kyiv.”

Ukraine's ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya criticised Russia's presidency of the Security Council, claiming it has become a tradition for Moscow to mark its term with “hideous war crimes and genocidal endeavours”.

Mr Kyslytsya held up a document allegedly showing the trajectory of the Russian missile responsible for the attack on the hospital, telling the council that the Kremlin deliberately attacked “the most vulnerable and defenceless group in any society” and calling it an indication of Moscow's “current unwillingness” to engage in a peace process.

The EU UN envoy Stavros Lambrinidis called for Russia and its leadership to be held fully accountable for waging a war of aggression and for other serious crimes under international law, as well as for the massive damage caused by their war.

Later this week, the General Assembly is expected to vote on a resolution regarding threats posed to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and to support the work of the UN nuclear agency in Ukraine.

“It is the first time in history the first time in history that a nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, has been illegally seized by a foreign aggressor,” noted Mr Lambrinidis.

“The 1986 Chernobyl disaster has taught us all the existential importance of nuclear safety and security. Russia's irresponsible actions place all of us at risk.”