Director of Kyiv children's hospital targeted by Russian missile speaks following deadly attack

(9 Jul 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kyiv, Ukraine - 9 July 2024
1. Various of damaged children's hospital after Russian missile attack
2. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Volodymyr Zhovnir, Director General of Okhmatdyt children's hospital:
"The most significant loss is people. Unfortunately, we lost a highly professional doctor who was very dedicated to children and prevented major casualties. We lost a young, qualified specialist as well. Of course, we also lost the building. It is completely destroyed. Dialysis for kidney failure and acute intoxication was conducted in that building. Now there is no building left and no equipment. Additionally, we lost critical infrastructure. We lost the ability to supply electricity to both the new and old buildings. Four hospital buildings are partially destroyed. Treatment cannot currently be conducted in these buildings, and yesterday we had to evacuate children from there. Where infrastructure is preserved, patients have been transferred to those departments. Scheduled patients who do not require emergency surgery or treatment have been discharged with a follow-up appointment. Patients needing urgent care that cannot be provided here have been placed in leading medical institutions in Kyiv. They are currently at the Heart Institute, the First Children's Hospital, the Cancer Institute, and other children's hospitals."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kyiv, Ukraine - 8 July 2024
3. Various of patients who were forced to evacuate hospital in immediate aftermath of missile strike, many with drips, and receiving treatment outside
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kyiv, Ukraine - 9 July 2024
4. Various interiors of damaged hospital, with people cleaning
5. Exterior of hospital, and clean up efforts
STORYLINE:
The director of a children's hospital in Ukraine's capital hit by a Russian missile on Monday has detailed the loss of professionals and equipment to the facility, as the attack drew international condemnation.
The 10-story hospital, which is Ukraine's largest medical facility for children, was caring for some 675 patients at the time of the attack, Okhmatdyt’s Director General, Volodymyr Zhovnir, said Tuesday.
Zhovnir said the hospital lost a "highly professional doctor who was very dedicated to children" and a "young, qualified specialist".
The missile hit a two-story wing of the hospital.
Rescuers searched the rubble at the hospital for more dead and wounded, a day after Russian missiles slammed into the facility and cities across the country in a massive daytime barrage.
The death toll from the strikes rose to 42, officials said.
"We lost the ability to supply electricity to both the new and old buildings. Four hospital buildings are partially destroyed," Zhovnir said, adding treatment had to be stopped in the damaged buildings and children evacuated from there.
It was Russia’s heaviest bombardment of Kyiv in almost four months and one of the deadliest of the war, hitting seven of the city’s 10 districts.
The strike on Okhmatdyt Hospital interrupted open-heart surgery and forced young cancer patients to take their treatments outdoors.
Danielle Bell, the head of a U.N. team tracking human rights violations in Ukraine, said at least two people were killed at the hospital and some 50 people were injured, including seven children.
Russia denied responsibility for the hospital strike, insisting it doesn’t attack civilian targets in Ukraine despite abundant evidence to the contrary.
===========================================================
Find out more about AP Archive: www.aparchive.c...
Twitter: / ap_archive
Facebook: / aparchives ​​
Instagram: / apnews
You can license this story through AP Archive: www.aparchive.c...