There is no doubt that the missile that destroyed the main children’s hospital in Kyiv was a Russian missile that was launched intentionally to hit this civilian target, Ukraine’s Ambassador to the Republic of Moldova Marko Shevchenko stated in a public debate hosted by IPN News Agency. According to the diplomat, all the characteristics of the missile prove that it was the Russian X-101 missile and such a complex attack would not have taken place without political indications and the assistance of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.
On July 8, Russia launched the largest missile attack on Kyiv since the start of the war. One of the missiles hit the main pediatric hospital in the Ukrainian capital. “Okhmatdyt” Children’s Hospital is the largest children’s health facility in Ukraine and the country’s leading treatment center for childhood cancer. Ukraine’s Ambassador in Chisinau noted that dozens of children from the Republic of Moldova were treated annually at this hospital in Kyiv.
“All the images show very clearly the moment of the fall of the Russian missile into the building of this hospital. The configuration and characteristics of this missile allow us to say with 100% accuracy that it was a X-101 missile. It is a Russian missile launched by a strategic bomber. From the video you can see very clearly how it is pointed directly at the target. If it had been hit by the anti-aircraft system, its remains would have fallen. But we see that the launched missile is whole, in its natural configuration,” said Marko Shevchenko.
The Ukrainian ambassador’s reaction comes after the Kremlin regime said that the missile that destroyed the hospital in Kyiv was launched by the Ukrainian air defense system. According to Marko Shevchenko, there is no doubt that the missile was launched by Russia and was deliberately aimed at the children’s hospital.
“The international experts’ investigation confirms this assertion. There are world leaders’ statements that are based on the data of their experts and that confirm the attack on the Kyiv hospital with Russian weapons. Therefore, from my point of view, there is no doubt that Russia launched this missile,” said the Ukrainian diplomat.
The ambassador also said that after such a barbaric attack, other international warrants for the arrest of Russian officials could be issued. Earlier, the International Criminal Court issued warrants for the arrest of Vladimir Putin, Maria Lvova-Belova, Sergei Shoigu, and Valery Gerasimov.
“There are already international arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and for the Russian commissioner for children’s rights Maria Belova, who are accused of illegally, forcibly taking over Ukrainian children. Also, similar arrest warrants were recently issued for former Defense Minister Shoigu and General Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff of the Russian Army. If we were to take into account the hierarchical chain within the Russian Army, such attacks are complicated operations and require a high level of coordination, which cannot take place without the assistance of specialists of the General Staff of the Army. There are preconditions to believe that this attack has exclusively political reasoning. The hospital is an absolutely civilian target. There are no people in military uniforms there, neither among those killed, nor among those wounded, or among those who help to get the victims out from under the rubble. There are only employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the police. So, the political target was set by political actors and the implementation of this attack was possible with the help of the General Staff of the Russian Army,” the diplomat pointed out.
The public debate entitled “War crimes: reasons and consequences” was the 310th installment of IPN’s project “Developing political culture through public debates”, which is implemented with the support of the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
