Is it time to negotiate? What the attack on a Ukrainian pediatric hospital says about this moment in the conflict (day 866 of the war)
Although protagonists like Viktor Orbán want to accelerate “peace†, the situation on the battlefield suggests that there is still intense fighting and a lot of fighting on both sides. Exhaustion is just the result of this activity. Pasi Paroinen, analyst at Black Bird Group, a think tank Finnish open source information company, states, in statements to Expresso, that “the Russian summer offensive is still advancing, so it is unlikely that the Russians are truly willing to negotiate in good faith, regardless of the political situation in the West.”
The effects of the Russian offensive were felt in several Ukrainian cities this Monday. In the capital, Kiev, a pediatric hospital had to be evacuated after a Russian attack left the facility without power, oxygen and water, reported the âBBCâ. The children who were being treated there were transferred to other hospitals, Ukrainian Health Minister Viktor Lyashko told journalists. “The most important thing today is not to panic, but to help save as many lives as possible,†he said, knowing that Monday’s Russian attacks killed at least 36 people and injured 150 in all of Ukraine.
“It is a terrible act of terror, and it brings me to tears to see how many people came to help us clean up,†continued Viktor Lyashko, adding that three surgeries were being performed at the time of the attack. Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that at least 17 people, seven of whom were children, were injured in the attack on the Ukrainian capital. Eleven people died in several other locations in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
Doctors estimate that the children’s hospital in Kiev was destroyed by “60 or 70%†. It is the largest hospital of its kind in Ukraine. It also has, according to the “BBC†, a reputation for being one of the best treatment centers for children with blood cancer in Central and Eastern Europe.
Vowing to retaliate, Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of deliberately attacking the Ohmatdyt hospital, which he described as one of the most important pediatric hospitals in Europe and Ukraine. In a post on social media, the President of Ukraine writes: “Russia cannot claim ignorance about where its missiles fly, and it must be held fully responsible for all its crimes. people, against children, against humanity in general. It is very important that the world does not remain silent about this now, and that everyone sees what Russia is, and what it is doing. to do.”
The newly elected United Kingdom Government also reacted to the attacks, conveying that the United Kingdom will not reverse its position of support for Ukraine. New Foreign Minister David Lammy describes what happened at the children’s hospital as the “most horrific attack on Ukrainian civilians.”
“We must hold accountable those responsible for Putin’s illegal war,†Lammy argued. In the same vein, Prime Minister Keir Starmer assured that he will not waver in his support for Kiev. Using social media, he condemned the “attack on innocent children†defining it as the “most depraved of actionsâ€.
Italy went further and accused Russia of committing a war crime. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani called for Russia’s international condemnation. he “I am impressed by the images of the attacks in Kiev, which also hit a pediatric hospital. War crimes that must be condemned by the entire international community.â€
The UN also condemned Russian acts. The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, described the attacks as “particularly shocking”. “Carrying out attacks against civilians is prohibited by international law, and this type of attack is unacceptable and must cease immediately,” said the UN chief, in a statement read by his spokesman.
“It is unfair that children are killed and injured in this war,†said Denise Brown, humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine. “According to International Humanitarian Law, hospitals have special protection,” she recalled.
However, the Russian Ministry of Defense denies that it ordered the launch of missiles against civilian targets this Monday in Ukraine. According to Moscow, the Russian military was targeting only “military industrial sites and Ukrainian air bases†. The Russian Ministry of Defense thus attributed the destruction in Kiev to Ukrainian anti-aircraft defenses.
In addition to the pediatric hospital in Ukraine’s capital, there were a series of attacks across the country. Missile debris also fell on a medical center in the Dniprovsky district (Kiev region), and seven people died. Another seven people died in a shopping center in the Solomyansky district. At least ten people died in attacks in the city of Kryvyi Rih, in central Ukraine. Three other people died in Pokrovsk, a city in the east.
These coordinated Russian missile attacks against Ukraine occur just before the NATO summit in Washington, where Zelensky is expected to appeal to his allies and ask for more Patriot defense systems. “I think that, for any ceasefire negotiations to truly have any chance of success, the Russians must be forced to realize that they can no longer gain anything from the use of weapons,†he tells Expresso Pasi Paroinen. “This means continued support for Ukraine, even if the coalition of allies defending it may diminish, following changes of power in the US or France.†Military support for Ukraine Ukraine was already high on the NATO summit agenda, but now it will be given a greater sense of urgency.
It’s not all bad news for Ukraine. Ukrainian attacks on Russian supply lines left Russian units short of food, water and ammunition. This shortage conditioned Moscow’s new invasion of the northeastern region of Kharkiv, Ukraine, according to Ukrainian commanders who shared radio and telephone communications interceptions. The news is advanced by the newspaper âThe Washington Postâwhich also reveals that the information was corroborated in military interrogations of Russian prisoners of war.
The interceptions and extensive interviews with 10 Ukrainian commanders and soldiers operating on the front line in Kharkiv – including those monitoring Russian communications and questioning POWs immediately after they are captured – paint a portrait of increasingly desperate Russian ground troops, who are losing personnel and momentum.
The Russian Armed Forces, which vastly outnumber those of Ukraine, continue to have a strong advantage in the region, supported by hundreds of huge glide bombs that hit Ukrainian positions on the front line every week. But Ukrainian troops largely impeded Russian territorial conquests. According to British intelligence analysts, Russia suffered in May the highest number of daily casualties since the invasion began in February 2022, with at least 1,200 soldiers Russians being killed or injured every day.
“Friends” Viktor Orbán (left) and Xi Jinping, this Monday, in Beijing
LI XUEREN / XINHUA / EPA
Other highlighted news:
⇒ Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated, this Monday, upon arrival in Moscow, that he hopes to reinforce the “privileged strategic partnership” with Russia. This is his first trip to the country since the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022. “I look forward to reviewing all aspects of bilateral cooperation with my friend, President Vladimir Putin, and share perspectives on various regional and global issues”, declared the Indian leader.
⇒ The Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs “strongly condemned the Russian attacks on Kiev, which hit, among other civilian targets, the country’s largest pediatric hospital”, noting that the indiscriminate attack on children is a war crime. “The indiscriminate attack on children is a war crime. We will remain committed to supporting Ukraine against Russian aggression”, says a message from the MNE on the social network “X†.
⇒ Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a bilateral security agreement in Warsaw that allows Ukrainian forces to intercept missiles and ‘drones’ launched from the Russia against Poland. This is the first time that a security pact between the parties includes this type of measures. The understanding also includes the creation of a “Ukrainian Legion”, which will be made up of personnel from Ukrainian forces who will be trained in Poland.
