Global outrage after Russian missiles hit Kyiv children's hospital in wave of strikes

Western and UN leaders have condemned a daylight Russian missile barrage that hit Ukraine's largest children's hospital, leaving an unknown number trapped under the rubble, as strikes across the country killed 36 people in one of the deadliest attacks this year.

- Pjotr Sauer, Artem Mazhulin

Volodymyr Zelenskiy vowed retaliation as he said Kyiv's Okhmatdyt hospital, the main treatment centre in the country for children with cancer, had taken a direct missile hit. The strike was part of one of the heaviest attacks on the capital since Russia's full invasion in February 2022.

"Russia cannot help but know where its missiles are flying, and must fully answer for all its crimes: against people, against children, against humanity in general," Zelenskiy posted on Telegram.

A spokesperson for António Guterres, the UN secretary general, said he strongly condemned the "particularly shocking" strikes against the children's hospital and another medical facility. The UN security council is to meet today at the request of Britain, France, Ecuador, Slovenia and the United States.

Barbara Woodward, the UK ambassador to the UN, said on X: "We will call out Russia's cowardly and depraved attack on the hospital." The Italian foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, called the missile strike "war crimes".

The new UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, condemned "attacking innocent children" as the "most depraved of actions".

The strikes across Ukraine yesterday highlighted the country's air defence vulnerabilities a day before Nato leaders were set to meet in Washington for their annual summit, where they are expected to announce new measures to aid Ukraine. Twenty-two people were killed in the capital, including two staff members at the hospital, where three children were known to be hurt.