Russian Airstrike Hits Maternity Hospital in Ukrainian City of Mariupol
KYIV, Ukraine—A Russian airstrike hit a maternity hospital in the besieged southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, local authorities said, as Moscow’s invasion has shifted to a new, more destructive phase aimed at civilian targets.
Video footage released by the Mariupol mayor’s office showed wounded people being pulled out of the partially collapsed hospital complex. A wide, deep bomb crater was visible, with signs that the blast, which took place around 5 p.m. local time Wednesday, had knocked down trees and torched cars. Nobody was killed in the blast and 17 people were wounded, officials said.
Mariupol has faced more than a week of Russian shelling that has cut off water and power in the city of over 400,000, where remaining residents have been hunkering down in basements. More than 1,200 civilians have died in the assault, local authorities said.
The city’s deputy mayor said other, uncounted bodies couldn’t be recovered because of intense shelling, and that 47 were buried in a common grave on Wednesday.
“They want to kill as many civilians as possible,” said the deputy mayor, Serhiy Orlov, speaking by phone from outside the city. “They will not allow for evacuation. They deliberately target lines for water and food.”
The shelling of Mariupol and similar attacks on other cities across Ukraine that are within range of Russian forces indicated that Moscow, having failed to swiftly take control of the country after it launched its invasion two weeks ago, was advancing with increasing disregard for civilian casualties. Moscow has said its forces aren’t deliberately targeting civilians. Ukrainian forces, unable to match the Russians in manpower or weaponry, have shown a preference to falling back to urban areas, where fierce fighting is anticipated.
It will be “an ugly next few weeks,” predicted U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director
William Burns,
in testimony before the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused the U.S. on Wednesday of declaring “economic war” on Russia after President Biden banned imported oil and other energy sources from the country.
U.S. Secretary of State
Antony Blinken
and U.K. Foreign Secretary
Liz Truss
said during a joint press conference on Wednesday that their governments would continue to exert diplomatic and economic pressure on Russia, but they again rejected calls for a no-fly zone over Ukraine. The Pentagon also rejected the idea of North Atlantic Treaty Organization members providing Soviet-built…
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