Three people including one child were killed after Russia bombed a children's hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, according to the city's deputy mayor Sergei Orlov.
Orlov reported the deaths in an interview with BBC News, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelesnky said in a statement on Wednesday March 9 that Russia had bombed the hospital.
Initial statements from Ukrainian officials reported that the hospital was actively being used and at least 17 people including patients and staff were injured in the strike. Photos and footage of the scene by the Associated Press (AP) show injured pregnant women at the hospital being carried out on stretchers.
President Zelensky shared footage of the destroyed hospital and said on Telegram that children were buried under the wreckage of the hospital.
Mariupol. Direct strike of Russian troops at the maternity hospital. People, children are under the wreckage. Atrocity! How much longer will the world be an accomplice ignoring terror? Close the sky right now! Stop the killings! You have power but you seem to be losing humanity. pic.twitter.com/FoaNdbKH5k
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) March 9, 2022
“Russian bombs fell on a hospital and maternity hospital in Mariupol,” President Zelensky said in a statement. “What did they threaten the Russian Federation with? What kind of country is this - the Russian Federation which is afraid of hospitals and maternity hospitals and destroys them?”
As of March 9, the World Health Organization (WHO) said it has verified 18 attacks on health facilities in Ukraine which have resulted in 10 deaths and 16 injuries.
"So far, WHO has verified 18 attacks on health facilities [in #Ukraine], #healthworkers and ambulances, including 10 deaths and 16 injuries. These attacks deprive whole communities of health care"-@DrTedros #NotATarget https://t.co/nI0AYxkydO
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) March 9, 2022
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said the Mariupol attack was horrific and that, “Civilians are paying the highest price for a war that has nothing to do with them.”
Attacks on health care facilities and personnel are war crimes under international law, but this is not the first time Russia has bombed a hospital.
Russian warplanes bombed hospitals and healthcare facilities in Syria in its military support of Syria’s ruler Bashar al-Assad, and such strikes have been repeatedly documented by the U.N., human rights groups and news organizations alike.
The New York Times proved in an investigation that Russia bombed four separate hospitals in Syria on May 5 and 6 in 2019.
Hundreds of attacks on healthcare facilities in Syria have been reported since Russia’s intervention in Syria in 2015, but it is not always possible to definitely prove who is responsible for a specific strike.
