415 + 1: Newborn dies in Russian attack on maternity hospital in south Ukraine, mother rescued

The UN human rights body said Tuesday that 415 children have died so far, among at least 6,595 civilians, since the conflict began at the end of February.

Rescuers work at the site of a maternity ward of a hospital destroyed by a Russian missile attack, as their attack on Ukraine continues, in Vilniansk, Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine 23 November 2022 | Reuters/Stringer

New Delhi: The Russians struck a hospital in south Ukraine Wednesday, killing a newborn baby, though the mother could be rescued from rubble.

According to CNN, the woman had just given birth to the child in the maternity ward in Vilnyansk city in the Zaporizhzhia region. A doctor was also rescued, Ukraine’s State emergency Services said.

Nobody else is under the rubble, according to preliminary information.

The Zaporizhzhia regional military administration said earlier on Telegram that Russian forces had launched huge rockets at a small maternity ward at the Vilnyansk hospital.

“Grief fills our hearts — a baby who had just appeared in the world has been killed,” Oleksandr Starukh, governor of the Zaporizhzhia region which includes Vilniansk, wrote on Telegram.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the attack, saying, “The terrorist state continues to fight against civilians and civilian objects.”

He added: “The enemy has once again decided to try to achieve with terror and murder what he wasn’t able to achieve for nine months and won’t be able to achieve. Instead, he will only be held to account for all the evil he brought to our country.”

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said on 22 November that at least 6,595 civilians have been killed in Ukraine so far, including 415 children.

The data could be “considerably higher”, the UN rights body cautioned, due to unverified or delayed information in areas where the conflict has intensified, including in cities such as Mariupol, Izium, Lysychansk, Popasna and Severodonetsk.

The report said most casualties were a result of “explosive weapons with wide-area effects including shelling from heavy artillery, multiple launch rocket systems, missiles and air strikes”.

Russia attacked Ukraine on 24 February, and defines the aggression as a “special military operation” aimed at the “demilitarisation and denazification” of Ukraine.