Atak na najbardziej wrażliwych

On July 8th Russia launched respective waves of rocket attacks targeting Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, including a children hospital, a maternity infirmary and residential block in Kyiv. There were besides targets in Kryvyi Rih, Dnipro and Pokrovsk. The attack was 1 of the most intense since the beginning of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine in Februray 2022 and could inactive become its deadliest. As of the morning of July 9th, officials have confirmed that 47 people were killed (33 of them in Kyiv), including 5 children, with 190 people injured across the country. The rescue operation in the Shevchenkivskyi territory in Kyiv, where a Russian rocket destroyed the full section of a residential building, was completed by the end of the day on July 9th. All the children killed in Kyiv on July 8th were residents of the flat block. The full number of people killed there is 11. 7 members of the medical staff were killed in the maternity infirmary Isida which was besides hit by the Russian missile. 10 people were killed and 47 injured in Kryvyi Rih, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown, and another 3 people were killed and 12 injured in Dnipro. 1 more individual was killed in Pokrovsk.

The number of Russian strikes and the advanced number of casualties were the consequence of the scale of the attack. In total, on July 8th, Russia launched 38 cruise and ballistic missiles at Ukraine including Kinzhal, Iskander-M, Zircon, Kalibr, X-101 and X-22 variants. The missiles were launched from the ground in the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula and from the strategical bomber and rocket platform Tu-95. Ukrainian air defence reportedly destroyed 30 of the Russian missiles in the air.

Having heard a series of explosions in the morning of July 8th in Kyiv, I unfortunately witnessed 1 of the Russian missiles circumventing air defence and hitting the ground in the outskirts of Kyiv. Many of Kyiv’s residents witnessed the missiles hitting the targets in the capital, including the 1 that hit Ukraine’s biggest children hospital.

The Russian attack which shocked the planet the most was the attack on Ukraine’s biggest children’s infirmary Okhmatdyt (the infirmary for the protection of motherhood and childhood). The infirmary is the eventual authority in Ukraine on treating the most hard forms of children’s cancer. Its different departments cover all pediatric specializations, including uncommon diseases and heart conditions. Being a highly specialized clinic, Okhmadyt treated patients from all over Ukraine. At the minute of the attack there were about 600 patients and 600 members of the staff present in the hospital. 2 people – both adults, were killed and 50 people were injured. This includes at least 8 children. erstwhile the rocket hit the infirmary any of its patients had already been evacuated to the bomb shelters, which prevented a higher number of casualties.

Apart from the killed and injured during the attack on the hospital, the lives of patients that received treatment there are inactive endangered. The attack on the infirmary has damaged 5 of its buildings to varying extents. The toxicology ward where children received hemodialysis was totally destroyed. Due to the harm to the another buildings, all the infirmary patients had to be evacuated to different medical facilities in Kyiv and elsewhere. For the first half of the day, dozens of ambulances had been queuing up at the driveway in front of Okhmadyt, waiting to choice up the patients and transport them to different facilities. any children including cancer patients had been taken home by their families.

Firefighters looking for survivors in 1 of the buildings of the infirmary complex in Kyiv. Photo: Kateryna Pryshchepa

By midday on July 8th, the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation declared that the infirmary had been damaged due to the actions of Ukraine. This claim does not correspond to the reality on the ground. There are no infirmary buildings left undamaged. Natalia, a caregiver assistant in the traumatology ward, said that she and her colleagues were virtually thrown against the walls by the wave from the explosion. “When we heard the informing of an incoming attack, the ward manager told us to hide in the corridor distant from the windows, something which prevented a advanced number of casualties in our ward. But erstwhile the rocket hit the ground, the detonation wave just threw us all against the wall. I hurt my ribs,” said Natalia.

Had the air defences shot down the rocket it would have exploded in the air and the infirmary would have just been damaged by the rocket debris. But the character of the harm here indicates a direct rocket hit. The scale of the harm indicates as much. It would have had to have been 1 of the more potent missiles in the Russian arsenal.

Kyiv residents reacted to the attack by showing up in their thousands to aid clear the rubble. Others donated water, food, first aid supplies, shovels and bags to collect the garbage. any had worked so hard that by the end of the day they could barely walk. Many were shocked by what they say in the infirmary erstwhile they arrived. “We entered 1 of the rooms on the advanced level and saw a small kid covered in blood,” 1 young man told me. According to Natalia, a fewer children had been injured by broken glass in their ward. Doctors were there to stitch their wounds on the spot.

While the rescue workers and volunteers had been clearing the rubble and broken glass from the damaged buildings, the infirmary personnel had been working on evacuating the surviving equipment and medical supplies. The staff had kept working until about 9 at night, erstwhile another air raid alarm forced people to search shelter again. The rescue workers returned to work after the air raid ended and by the morning of July 9th authorities reported the end of the rescue operation in the hospital.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced plans to reconstruct the infirmary and declared that at least 300 million hryvnia (7.3 million US dollars) would be dedicated to this goal from public funds. However, the authorities will gotta decide whether the fast reconstruction of the premises is advisable given the danger of renewed attacks. The Okhmatdyt infirmary was damaged as a consequence of Russian air strikes at the beginning of the full scale invasion in 2022. Back then the harm was on a smaller scale. The plans to defend the most susceptible of Ukraine’s citizens should, if possible, include the evacuation of key medical facilities to safer areas in Ukraine.

Kateryna Pryshchepa is simply a Ukrainian writer and a contributing editor with fresh east Europe.

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