US President Joe Biden condemns ‘Russian brutality’ after deadly Ukraine strikes

Two people died when a missile flattened part of the Ohmatdyt Children’s Hospital, Ukraine’s largest pediatric facility. The search for survivors beneath the rubble was completed on Tuesday morning.

The Kremlin denied responsibility for the attack, with foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova claiming the blast was caused by a misfired NASAMS air defense missile.

However, the UN’s human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine stated there was a high likelihood that Russia carried out the attack. Officials cited video footage and a site assessment indicating that the building was directly hit by a Russian missile.

BBC Verify analyzed two videos showing a missile striking the hospital and confirmed the strike location through geolocation. Six munitions experts who reviewed the footage unanimously agreed that the missile was not an air defense missile. While they could not definitively identify the type of munition used, they concluded it was likely an air-launched Russian missile. Four of the six experts specifically mentioned the Russian Kh-101 missile as a possibility, consistent with claims by Ukraine’s security services (SBU), which stated it had “unequivocal” evidence that Russia was behind the attack.

One expert noted the presence of a small turbofan engine at the rear of the missile, consistent with the Kh-101.

President Zelensky called the attack “brutal” and described Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “bloody criminal.”

Pictures from the blast site at the Kyiv hospital, which specializes in cancer treatment and organ transplants, showed children hooked up to IV drips sitting outside the damaged facility awaiting evacuation.

Zelensky reported that Russia launched more than 40 missiles on Monday, damaging nearly 100 buildings in Kyiv, Dnipro, Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, and his hometown of Kryvyi Rih.

The Ukrainian government says it urgently needs new US-made Patriot air defense systems, but Western officials have been reluctant to provide more of the limited number of these surface-to-air batteries.

The UK’s new Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, condemned the attack as “the most depraved of actions.” Britain, a key Western ally of Ukraine, has pledged to maintain support for Kyiv. Sir Keir is set to meet President Biden at the White House on Wednesday on the sidelines of the NATO summit.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the BBC that the Kremlin would be following the summit “extremely closely.”