Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Russian military’s bombing of a children’s hospital and maternity ward in Mariupol Wednesday was a “war crime” and “proof that the genocide of Ukrainians is taking place.”
What he’s saying: “A children’s hospital. Maternity hospital. What did they threaten the Russian Federation with?” Zelensky said in a televised address.
- “What kind of country is this — the Russian Federation, which is afraid of hospitals and maternity hospitals and destroys them?” he continued.
- “Did someone in the maternity hospital abuse Russian-speakers? What was that? Was it the denazification of the hospital?” added Zelensky, who is Jewish—referring to Putin’s widely derided claims that his goal was to “demilitarize and de-nazify Ukraine.”
Of note: He wrote on Telegram that children were among those buried under the wreckage of the hospital bombing. Officials have so far confirmed the strike injured 17 people.
- “Atrocity! How much longer will the world be an accomplice ignoring terror?” added Zelensky, who repeated his call for NATO to declare a no-fly zone over Ukraine — which top U.S. and NATO officials again ruled out following the hospital bombing, which they condemned.
By the numbers: World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement Wednesday the WHO had verified 18 attacks on health facilities in Ukraine, “including 10 deaths and 16 injuries.”
The big picture: The International Criminal Court last week opened an investigation into allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide committed in Ukraine.
- Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN last Sunday: “[W]e’ve seen very credible reports of deliberate attacks on civilians, which would constitute a war crime.”
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Editor’s note: This article has been updated with comment from Tedros.
