The United Nations human rights mission said yesterday that there was a "high probability" that the main children's hospital in Kiev was directly hit by a Russian missile in a series of airstrikes on Ukrainian cities, while the Kremlin continues to deny involvement.
Flags were flown at half-mast in Ukraine yesterday for a national day of mourning for the deaths of 44 people killed across the country in airstrikes on Monday, including four children and two people at Ohmatdit Children's Hospital in the capital.
"Analysis of the video footage and assessments from the scene indicate a high probability that the children's hospital was directly hit, and not damaged as a result of an intercepted weapon system," said the head of the UN mission to monitor human rights in Ukraine.
Ukrainian security services have said they have irrefutable evidence that the medical facility was hit by a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile in the deadliest series of attacks in recent months, and have released photos of what they say are parts of the weapon's engine.
The Kremlin said, without providing evidence, that Ukrainian anti-missile fire, not Russian, hit the children's hospital, one of the largest in Europe where seriously ill patients such as cancer patients are treated, Reuters reported.
Monday's attacks, and especially the scenes from the children's hospital, triggered multi-million dollar donation drives from Ukraine and abroad. Eight children were injured in the attack on the hospital.
The United Nations Security Council met yesterday at the request of Britain, France, Ecuador, Slovenia and the United States regarding the attack.
A three-day NATO summit of Alliance leaders began yesterday in Washington, attended by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who expects the allies to commit to strengthening Ukraine's air defense and increasing military support.
Meanwhile, Reuters reports that Russian forces are slowly making progress, and yesterday announced that they had captured the village of Yasnobrodivna in the eastern Donetsk region. Yesterday, there were no official comments on the matter from Kiev, which has been claiming for months that fierce fighting is taking place in that region.
During a visit to Moscow, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Russian President Vladimir Putin that "the heart bleeds" when children die in war, conflict or a terrorist attack.
Modi's statement is an indirect criticism of Putin, who only moments earlier had welcomed him to the Kremlin in a warm announcement about the importance of strategic relations between the two countries.
Zelensky criticized Modi's visit to Russia, calling it "a huge disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts."
Ukraine's leader vowed revenge against Russia after Monday's attack, and Russia's defense ministry said it had shot down 38 drones. The governor of a Russian region reported fires in an oil warehouse and transformer station.
A security source told Reuters that Ukrainian drones in a joint operation attacked a Russian oil refinery, a runway for military aircraft, and a substation.
Earlier yesterday, the rescuers completed their operations at the children's hospital. In other parts of the city, five bodies were pulled from the ruins of a residential building in which 12 people died, Mayor Vitalij Klitschko said.
The general director of the children's hospital, Volodymyr Žovnir, told reporters that one of their young doctors was among the victims, that the dialysis building was completely destroyed and that they no longer had electricity.
"At least four buildings of the hospital complex were almost destroyed," he said.
Ukrainian business leaders have announced donations to rebuild the hospital.
Yesterday, there was no precise data on the total amount of donations, however, according to Reuters' estimates based on announcements and reporting by Ukrainian media, the Ukrainian corporate sector will donate about 7,3 million dollars.
In Kiev, Oleksandr Barbosko, a 34-year-old strategic communications consultant, said attacks like Monday's are uniting Ukrainians against Russia.
"They are not afraid of us. On the contrary, they motivate us to do more," Barboško, who helped coordinate efforts with a local shop to distribute gloves and tools to volunteers who were removing the ruins of the hospital, told Reuters.
In Geneva, Tarik Jašarević from the World Health Organization said that the attack on the hospital was one of 1882 attacks on medical facilities in Ukraine, in which a total of 150 people have died so far. The WHO does not assign blame for the attacks.
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