Flags will fly at half-mast in capital after strikes on children’s hospital and cities across the country
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. It has just gone past 10:30am in Kyiv.
The coming days will see a host of diplomatic activity, with a Nato summit in Washington and a UN security council meeting in New York – two gatherings that will be dominated by Monday’s Russian missile attacks on Ukraine.
A day of mourning has been declared in Kyiv by mayor Vitali Klitschko after a daylight Russian missile barrage hit Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital and killed dozens around the country. All flags will be flown at half mast on municipal buildings throughout the city, he said in a Telegram post, and entertainment events will be cancelled. The strike was among the heaviest attacks on the capital since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. At least 41 people were killed across Ukraine, according to officials. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy posted on the Telegram messaging app: “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.”
After the strikes, US president Joe Biden promised “new measures” to boost Ukraine’s air defences. “Russia’s missile strikes that today killed dozens of Ukrainian civilians and caused damage and casualties at Kyiv’s largest children’s hospital are a horrific reminder of Russia’s brutality,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House. He was speaking on the eve of a Nato summit in Washington where leaders are expected to present a “historic” aid package for Ukraine, including air defences. Observers expect Nato members to pledge at least four additional Patriot missile batteries. The Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, will meet with Zelenskiy on Wednesday during the Nato summit in Washington, according to Johnson’s schedule.
Western and UN leaders condemned Monday’s strikes, which saw Ukraine’s main treatment centre for children with cancer, take a direct missile hit. British prime minister Keir Starmer condemned “attacking innocent children” as the “most depraved of actions”, while the Italian foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, called the missile strike a “war crime”. 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. UN rights chief Volker Türk condemned the Russian strikes as “abominable”. France’s foreign ministry called the bombardment of a children’s hospital “barbaric” and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau described the attack as “abhorrent”. Russia has claimed the extensive missile damage in Kyiv was caused by Ukrainian air defence systems and that it was striking only military targets. The UN security council is to meet on Tuesday at the request of Britain, France, Ecuador, Slovenia and the US.
One person was killed, while two power substations and an oil depot caught fire, after Ukraine launched tens of drones in attacks on several regions, Russian officials said on Tuesday. Russian air defence systems destroyed 38 drones, including 21 over the southern region of Rostov and seven over Kursk, both of which border Ukraine, the Russian defence ministry said.
Russia’s Astrakhan and Volgograd airports resumed flights after closing due to a Ukrainian drone attack, the Russian aviation authority said.
China and Belarus started joint military exercises on Monday, the Belarusian and Chinese defence ministries said, holding the drills just few miles (km) from the border of Nato-member Poland. “Events taking place in the world are alarming, the situation is uneasy, therefore we are going to practice new forms and methods of performing tactical tasks,” Maj Gen Vadim Denisenko, chief of Belarusian special operations command, said. The manoeuvres, codenamed Falcon Assault, will go until 19 July and are taking place at a training ground near the city of Brest, in southwest Belarus, the ministry said.