Ukraine, Russia Blame Each Other for Missile Hitting Kyiv Hospital

Rescuers work at Ohmatdyt Children's Hospital that was damaged during a missile strike, in Kyiv, Ukraine, on July 8, 2024. Gleb Garanich/Reuters

Russia and Ukraine are trading blame for an apparent missile strike on a Kyiv hospital that reportedly killed at least two people—and caused significant damage—on July 8.

“Russia cannot claim ignorance of where its missiles are flying,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a social-media post.

Moscow, he added, “must be held fully accountable for all its crimes against people, children, and humanity in general.”

“It is very important that the world does not remain silent about this,” Mr. Zelenskyy wrote.

On July 8, Russian missiles struck multiple targets in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities.

Vitali Klitschko, Kyiv’s mayor, said the strikes caused significant damage in seven districts of the capital.

At least 27 people were killed—and scores more injured—in Kyiv alone, Ukrainian officials said.

According to Ukraine’s interior ministry, the central cities of Dnipro and Kryvyi Rih also came under missile attack.

Eleven people were killed in the Dnipropetrovsk region, local officials said, while three others were killed in the eastern town of Pokrovsk, where an industrial facility was reportedly struck.

According to the latest Ukrainian tallies, a total of 41 people were killed—including three children—and more than 170 injured countrywide.

Russia’s defense ministry later confirmed the strikes, but said that only military-industrial sites had been targeted.

The wave of strikes came on the eve of a landmark NATO summit in Washington, which is expected to focus on Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, now in its third year.

Mr. Zelenskyy will attend the three-day event, where he is slated to meet his U.S. counterpart, President Joe Biden, and other leaders of NATO member states.

In a July 8 statement released by the White House, President Biden described the latest wave of Russian strikes as a “horrific reminder of Russia’s brutality.”

“It is critical that the world continues to stand with Ukraine at this important moment and that we not ignore Russian aggression,” the U.S. president said.

At the NATO summit, he added, Kyiv’s allies will announce “new measures” to bolster Ukrainian air defenses to “help protect their cities and civilians from Russian strikes.”

At a joint press conference with Poland’s prime minister in Warsaw on Monday, Mr. Zelenskyy urged Kyiv’s Western supporters to mount a firm response to Russian aggression.

“We will deliver a powerful response from our side to Russia,” he told reporters. “The question to our partners is: can they respond?”

U.S. President Joe Biden delivers a speech next to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at an event with G-7 leaders to announce a Joint Declaration of Support for Ukraine during a NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania on July 12, 2023. Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images

‘Absolutely Untrue’

According to Ukrainian intelligence officials, the Kyiv hospital was struck by a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile, debris from which they claimed to have found.

“The experts’ conclusions are unequivocal—it was a direct [Russian] strike,” Ukraine’s State Security Service said in a July 9 social-media post.

Kyiv’s claims regarding the hospital have drawn denials from Moscow.

“Allegations … about a deliberate Russian missile strike on civilian targets are absolutely untrue,” Russia’s defense ministry said in a statement.

According to the ministry, video footage shows that the hospital was struck by a “falling Ukrainian air-defense missile launched from a missile system deployed within the [Kyiv] city limits.”

The ministry also accused Ukraine of making false claims about Russian attacks on civilians in the run-up to international summits and forums.

“The goal of such provocations is to ensure the further inflow of [Western] funds for the Kyiv regime and a continuation of the war to the last Ukrainian,” the ministry said.

On July 9, a Kremlin spokesman said, “We insist that we don’t hit civilian targets.”

Russian strikes, the spokesman continued, “target critical infrastructure and military facilities, which are … related to [Kyiv’s] military capacity.”

Meanwhile, Russia’s foreign ministry said it had “evidence from multiple witnesses” proving that the hospital was hit by a Western-supplied NASAMS (National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System) missile.

According to Dmitry Polyansky, Russia’s deputy UN envoy, Moscow will present evidence supporting its claims at an upcoming United Nations Security Council meeting.

The Epoch Times could not independently verify claims made by either side.

However, the head of a UN monitoring mission based in Ukraine, Danielle Bell, on July 9 appeared to support Kyiv’s contention that it was a Russian missile that struck the hospital.

“Analysis of the video footage and an assessment made at the incident site indicates a high likelihood that the children’s hospital suffered a direct hit rather than receiving damage due to an intercepted weapon system,” she said.

Ms. Bell added, however, that she and her team—which visited the site on July 8—had been unable to reach a final determination on the issue.

Moscow has yet to comment on the UN mission’s assertions.

Reuters contributed to this report.