Kyiv rocked by huge explosions injuring 53 as Russians bomb children's hospital

13 December 2023 , 08:31

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A huge blaze in the wake of the rocket attacks in Kyiv (Image: DSNS/east2west news)

Ukraine’s capital was hit by a huge ballistic missile attack early this morning, injuring over 50 people and damaging an apartment building and a children's hospital, the mayor said.

The Ukrainian air force said Russia launched 10 ballistic missiles at Kyiv and all were intercepted by air defences. But fallen debris fell in the eastern Dniprovskyi district, injuring at least 53 people, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on the Telegram messaging app. Twenty people, including two children, were hospitalised while 33 people received medical treatment on the spot. An apartment building, a private house and several cars caught fire, while the windows of a children's hospital were shattered, Klitschko said. Falling rocket debris also damaged the water supply system in the district.

Also on Monday, a Russian missile attack destroyed several homes on the outskirts of Kyiv and left more than 100 households temporarily without electricity. As winter sets in and hampers troop movements, Ukrainian officials have warned that Russia will target energy infrastructure to cause power outages and blackouts like it did last winter.

While the world's attention is elsewhere, Russian President Vladimir Putin is still raining hell on innocent Ukrainians. The bombardment came two days after another attack on Kyiv with ballistic missiles and attack drones. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had left for Washington earlier that day, hoping to rally waning American support for his country. Russia has often used Zelensky's visits abroad to launch waves of major attacks.

Rescue workers extinguish a fire at a residential house after a Russian rocket attack in Kyiv (AP)

US President Joe Biden repeatedly promised that the United States would back Ukraine for "as long as it takes" to defeat the Russian invasion, but now there's no sign of a deal to maintain the flow of supplies as the war approaches its third year. Last week, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said Putin’s invasion of the country marked "the worst example of one state invading and wrecking the sovereignty of another state that we’ve seen since the Second World War."

Baby boy has spent his life in hospital as doctors are 'scared' to discharge him

Cameron, the former Prime Minister, issued a stark warning to the US and said: "We should pass this money to the Ukrainians, we should back them and make sure that it’s Putin that loses — because if that money doesn’t get voted through, there are only two people that will be smiling: One of them is Vladimir Putin in Russia. The other one is Xi Jinping in Beijing. And I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want to give either of those people a Christmas present."

Rachel Hagan