Ukraine reports ten dead in Russian attack on hospital

According to Ukrainian sources, ten people were killed in a Russian attack on a hospital in the Ukrainian border town of Sumy on Saturday. In the first attack on the clinic, one person was killed, said Ukrainian Interior Minister Igor Klymenko. While the patients were being evacuated, the hospital was bombed again. Russian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of waging a “war on hospitals.”

According to Zelensky, the hospital in the city near the Kursk region of Russia was attacked with Iranian-made Schaded drones. “Whoever talks about this war in the world must pay attention to what Russia is attacking: they are waging war against hospitals, civilian objects and human lives,” he said on the Telegram online service. Prime Minister Denys Shmygal spoke of “further evidence of Russia’s war crimes.”

“The first attack resulted in one death and several floors of the hospital were damaged,” Interior Minister Klymenko said. The hospital then began evacuating patients and staff. According to prosecutors, the second attack occurred almost an hour after the first. When rescue workers and police arrived and while the evacuation was still in progress, “the enemy struck again,” Klymenko wrote.

“Only strength can force peace on Russia,” Zelensky said. “Peace through strength is the only right path.” The president has recently repeatedly asked his Western allies to be allowed to attack targets deep inside Russia with longer-range weapons provided by the West. So far, the Western partners have refused.

At the UN general debate, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned Ukraine’s European allies not to seek confrontation with Moscow. The West hopes to “defeat Russia with the help of the illegitimate neo-Nazi Kiev regime, but they are already preparing Europe to also plunge into this suicidal escapade,” Lavrov said, adding: “I will not talk about the futility and the .” Talk about the danger of the idea of ​​wanting to fight for victory with a nuclear power.

According to human rights organization Human Rights Watch, Russia has attacked at least 1,736 health facilities in Ukraine since its war of aggression began. These included a children’s hospital in Kiev in July and the Mariupol maternity hospital, which was bombed in March 2022, a month after the war began.

The Russian Air Force said a total of three drones attacked Sumy on Saturday morning. According to regional authorities, a residential building next to the hospital was attacked.

Sumy borders Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukraine launched an offensive in August. One goal of the offensive was to create a buffer zone on Russian territory to protect the Russian population from attacks. Moscow responded to the advance with air strikes.

Attacks were also reported in other European regions. According to its own information, the Air Force intercepted 68 of 73 Russian attack drones in several regions on Saturday night. In addition, two out of four Russian missiles were defeated.

In the city of Kryvyi Rih, a fourth victim of a rocket attack on a police building on Friday was recovered from the rubble, authorities said. According to authorities, two people died in an attack in the partially Russian-occupied Kherson region. According to regional authorities, one person was killed in a drone strike in the border region of Belgorod on Saturday morning.

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