Russian bombing has completely destroyed a children’s and maternity hospital in the besieged port city of Mariupol in southern Ukraine.
Regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said the strike happened during an agreed ceasefire and left 17 wounded, including women in labour.
It was not immediately clear whether there were any fatalities. Ukrainian MP Dmytro Gurin claimed there were ‘a lot of killed and wounded women’ but this has not been confirmed by the local authority.
Mariupol City Council said ‘several bombs’ were dropped on the children’s hospital, adding: ‘The destruction is colossal.’
President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed children are under the wreckage as he shared harrowing footage of an obliterated maternity ward.
He tweeted: ‘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.’
The embattled leader has been pressing Nato allies to enforce a no-fly zone above Ukraine’s skies as Russia continues to target civilian infrastructure in its indiscriminate bombing campaign.