Russia attacks civilian facilities including hospitals

Russian airborne troops entered Kharkiv, the second largest city of Ukraine, on Wednesday (local time), and attacked a local hospital, according to Ukraine’s security service. Residential areas, including a hospital in the city of Zhytomyr and an obstetrics and gynecology in another area near Kyiv, came under missile attack the previous day. The indiscriminate bombing of civilian facilities has been resulting in a large number of civilian casualties, including children.

According to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) on Wednesday, Russian airborne troops invaded Kharkiv and attacked a military hospital. Following a mass bombing of residential areas and government buildings in Kharkiv the previous day, Russian Special Forces attacked medical facilities, where wounded soldiers were being treated. Russian troops bombed an oil depot in Kharkiv on the same day, causing explosions and toxic fumes.

Bombing continued on civilian facilities in Kyiv and neighboring cities. A Russian missile strike aimed at Kyiv’s main television tower killed five people and knocked out the country’s national broadcast. At around 10 p.m. on the same day, Russian missile attack, which targeted a residential area in Zhytomyr, destroyed 10 buildings, including a hospital building, and killed at least two people. Also, Russian airstrikes destroyed two apartment buildings in Borodyanke, 50 kilometers from Kyiv. The United Nationals Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Tuesday that Russian missile attacks have killed a total of 142 civilians, including 13 children as of Feb. 28.

During his State of the Union address, U.S. President Joe Biden announced a ban on Russian flights from U.S. airspace. President Biden said Putin thought “the West and NATO wouldn’t respond,” but he was wrong. “When dictators do not pay a price for their aggression, they cause more chaos,” Biden said. “When the history of this era is written Putin’s war on Ukraine will have left Russia weaker and the rest of the world stronger.”


weappon@donga.com