Ukraine has accused Russia of attacking a maternity hospital in the embattled port city of Mariupol. President Volodymyr Zelenskyj published a video on Twitter on Wednesday, which is said to show the completely devastated rooms of the clinic.
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Accordingly, one or more projectiles or bombs must have hit the courtyard of the clinic complex. 17 pregnant women and employees were injured in the attack, said the head of the military administration of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kyrylenko.
The blast destroyed windows, furniture and doors, as can be seen in the video. The terrain around the building on the Azov Sea in the south-east of the country was littered with rubble. According to Kyrylenko, 1,207 civilians have been killed in Mariupol alone since the fighting began.
There was initially no comment from the Russian side. Moscow always emphasizes that it will not attack civilian targets.
“Attack by Russian troops on the maternity ward. People, children are under the rubble,” Zelenskyy wrote. The strategically important port city has been besieged by Russian troops for days. Several agreed attempts to get people to safety via escape corridors failed. Both sides blamed each other for this.
According to local authorities, several bombs were dropped. That couldn’t be checked. “The destruction is enormous,” said the city council. Information on possible victims was not initially given.
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In general, the situation in the port city of Mariupol is getting worse every day. “People have no water, heating, electricity, gas. Residents melt snow to have something to drink,” explained mayor Serhii Orlov.
Despite several agreements on a ceasefire for the evacuation of the city, according to reports in the “New York Times” there are constant bombings. “If anyone can help, please do so immediately. Because people are dying there,” the newspaper quotes a journalist who was able to flee Mariupol.
Children were recently treated in the clinic. As a consequence of the attack, Zelenskyj once again called for a no-fly zone over Ukraine. But NATO refused.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the attack. “Today’s attack on a hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, which houses maternity and pediatric wards, is appalling,” Guterres wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. Civilians paid the ultimate price for a war that had nothing to do with them. “This senseless violence has to stop.” (Tsp, dpa)
