'A war against life itself' Horror at Russian strike on children's hospital

The children sat in stunned silence, their fragile bodies still tethered to medical drips outside the Okhmatdyt children's hospital in central Kyiv, where an impromptu field camp had been set up.

- Pjotr Sauer

They had not long emerged from the hospital's dark, dusty bomb shelter, and their eyes were still adjusting to the light. A woman rushed past, cradling an infant who was covered with blood.

An hour earlier, Okhmatdyt, Ukraine's largest paediatric clinic, renowned for its cancer treatment and a place many of the children had called home for months, had been targeted by a powerful Russian missile attack that killed at least 29 people and left many more injured.

The hospital toxicology ward lay in ruins, wrecked by an explosion that sent shrapnel tearing through the main hospital building, shattering its windows.

One of the surgical rooms, where doctors had been operating on a child, was reduced to rubble.

Russia's deadly strike yesterday was not the first of its kind - more than 1,700 medical facilities have been hit since the start of the fullscale invasion, according to the International Rescue Committee.

Still, the sheer brutality of the attack is certain to send shock waves across the west and prompt furious calls in Ukraine for enhanced air defences.