438 children have died since the start of the war in Ukraine, according to the latest report from the country’s attorney general’s office, but not often so young. A newborn baby was killed in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday by a Russian strike on a maternity hospital in the Zaporizhia region, according to the Ukrainian emergency services.
“On the night of November 23, in the city of Vilnyansk, a two-storey building housing a maternity ward was destroyed by a missile attack in the area of the local hospital”, where a woman was with her baby and a doctor, the state service for emergencies said on Telegram. “As a result of the attack, the baby born in 2022 died”, according to the same source, according to which his mother and the doctor were able to be rescued from the rubble.
Zelensky blames ‘terrorist state’
The emergency service released a video showing rescuers trying to free a man half buried in the debris.
The mother of the family was injured, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram, adding that there are “probably still people under the rubble”. “The terrorist state continues to wage war on civilians,” he said, accusing Russia – which has not yet reacted – of “terror and murder”.
The small town of Vilniansk is located in the north of the Zaporijjia region, most of which in the south is occupied by Russian troops while Moscow has announced the annexation of this territory.