Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko issues plea for air defences after ‘very painful’ Russian attack on hospitals

Kyiv mayor says Ukraine needs air defences now more than ever after 29 civilians were killed during sweeping Russian missile strikes across the capital

A Russian missile attack directed against Ukraine’s top children’s hospital was one of the most “painful” days in the country’s recent history, the mayor of Kyiv, where the missile hit, has told The Independent.

Vitali Klitschko, a former boxing world heavyweight champion turned politician, cut an uncharacteristically tired figure as he recounted Monday’s events.

At least 29 people have been killed and more than 90 wounded in the multiple attacks. Seven districts across the city, on both sides of the dividing Dnipro river, were hit. The attack on Okhmatdyt children’s hospital killed two and injured roughly 50 others.

The bodies of at least three people, one boy and two women, were discovered on Tuesday in the rubble of a second strike in the Shevchenkivskyi district where the hospital is located. Many more, Mr Klitschko says, are still believed to be missing, buried under the rubble.

“It is very painful to spend time with parents who can’t find their children, to see them crying,” he said. “We are still working in the rubble to try to find those that are missing. I hope we find them alive. There’s a lot still of people missing. I call it genocide. Genocide.”

Footage from the scene at the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital showed shards of glass - the detritus of seventh floor broken windows  - scattered across the building’s courtyard. Doctors could be seen rushing bloodied babies, wrapped in dusty blankets, to the nearest bomb shelter. Parents screamed for their missing children. Others curled themselves into the corner of dark, underground bunkers beneath the hospital, terrified of Russia launching another missile strike.

The boxer turned political heavyweight said Kyiv is not unused to Russia targeting civilians. “Look at Bucha and Irpin”, he said, referring to the northwest suburbs of Kyiv where the first allegations of Russian war crimes during the invasion emerged.

Emergency and rescue personnel along with medics and others clear the rubble of the destroyed building of Ohmatdyt Children's Hospital following a Russian missile attack in the Ukrainian capital (AFP via Getty Images)

But after months of relative calm, a sophisticated air defence system busy protecting the Ukrainian capital, this latest attack has shaken the city. There were at least three hits against the children’s hospital, all of which are believed to have been cruise missiles, according to Ukrainian authorities.

“It was one of the worst, biggest missile attacks against Kyiv,” Mr Klitschko said. “Vladimir Putin is trying to force people here in Kyiv to live with depression. His best case is that people take their luggage and move somewhere else in Europe and make Ukraine free for Russian soldiers.

“But we are not depressed. We are angry. We are ready to defend our democratic future.

“Monday’s attack just gives us more motivation to defend our country, our home, to defend our cities, our families and our children.”

The attack, which affected not just Kyiv but the whole country, with an additional 14 people killed in the central city of Kryvyi Rih, nearby Dnipro and the eastern city of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, comes ahead of Ukraine’s top allies meeting in Washington for the 75th annual Nato summit.

Air defences, the leaders have said, will be the top priority of discussions, since Ukraine will not be offered the elusive membership to the alliance it has sought after for decades.

For Mr Klitschko, who presides over what is likely the most well-defended city in Europe and is a champion of Kyiv’s integration into the West, Ukraine’s allies can never provide enough air defences.

“We are definitely better protected than other cities in Ukraine but we still do not have enough ammunition or anti-missile defences,” he said. “Military officials defending the city saying we need much more protection, We need more anti-missile systems, more modern air defence. We need, need them.”

As The Independent’s interview with the mayor of Kyiv came to a close, he issued one final plea to those gathering in Washington.

“If you help, you need to understand you are not just defending Ukraine but you are defending yourselves,” he said.

Putin, he added, is coming.