Parents dive on disabled children to save them from Russian hospital attack

When a missile hit Kyiv’s Ohmatdyt Children’s Hospital on Monday, Olena Magarevska threw herself over her son, Andriy, to protect him.

The boy, who is nine and disabled because of a neurological condition, was recovering from surgery on the fifth-floor intensive care unit when air raid sirens sounded just before 10am.

Hospital staff were unable to evacuate him to the shelter because of his medical needs, so he was moved to a dining area with sturdy walls for safety.

Then the Russian KH-101 hypersonic missile smashed through the roof of the building in a rare daytime attack that left one dead and 30 wounded, according to hospital staff.

“I heard a loud explosion and me and my husband both jumped to cover Andriy with our bodies. The windows were completely destroyed so then we covered him with pillows in case there was another attack or falling debris,” Mrs Magarevska told The Telegraph through tears.

“The lights also went out and it was so dark in the room. Andriy doesn’t like the dark, he’s scared of it, so I turned the torch on on my phone to try to calm him.”

Ohmatdyt is Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital, where more than 20,000 youngsters and teenagers are treated every year for a range of problems, from injury to genetic conditions and cancer.

The missile left a giant hole gouged out of the building in central Kyiv, with rescue workers scrambling to evacuate the most sick and infirm, passing bricks by hand to clear the way.

Children from the oncology ward, unable to evacuate to the shelter alongside most other patients, were forced to sit outside on pavement attached to IV drips.

Daytime missile strikes have become rare since the war began, and direct hits have largely been kept away from Kyiv in recent months.

Russia has targeted civilian infrastructure throughout the war and some observers pointed out the attack on the hospital had echoes of Vladimir Putin’s playbook in Syria.

The surprise attack came as Viktor Orban, Hungary’s prime minister, met Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, to discuss a potential peace deal to end the war. Mr Orban has also visited Volodymyr Zelensky and Putin in recent days.

Joe Biden, the US president, said the strikes were “a horrific reminder of Russia’s brutality”.

“It is critical that the world continues to stand with Ukraine at this important moment and that we not ignore Russian aggression”, he said. 

Mr Biden said he would be meeting Mr Zelensky this week at the NATO summit to “make clear our support for Ukraine is unshakeable.”

“Together with our allies, we will be announcing new measures to strengthen Ukraine’s air defences to help protect their cities and civilians from Russian strikes,” he said. 

Andriy was left in his bed inside the smouldering hospital for five hours before he was evacuated safely out of the rubble to another Kyiv hospital. While he waited Mrs Magarevska and her husband, Igor Magarevskyi, tried to keep Andriy calm amid the broken glass and ceiling debris.

When Andriy was moved first to a stretcher in the lobby, Mrs Magarevskyi held and kissed his hand, stroking his head for comfort amid the chaos of the relief operation.

Volodymyr Zovnir, director general of the hospital, said that it had been a routine morning and that staff were gathered for a meeting when the air alarm sounded and they rushed out to move children to the shelters.

“We heard one explosion nearby and we moved to a safer area and then the second explosion hit us. I ran to the emergency department and asked the doctors to start helping the wounded immediately,” he said.

“Approximately 30 people were wounded and one died – she was taking children to the shelter at the time. Some of the wounded are doctors and nurses, many with shrapnel wounds.”

Mr Zovnir said that one doctor had been about to carry out heart surgery at the time of the attack, but both he and the eight-year-old patient had survived.

Volunteers quickly descended on to the scene, bringing medical supplies, water and food for the patients, medical staff and rescue workers. The hospital was plunged into darkness with even the generators damaged, and the corridors flooded because of burst pipes. The air was thick with smoke and rocket fuel.

The first children to be evacuated were those with the most urgent needs, those with cancer or who rely on breathing equipment. Some doctors were trapped and had to escape out of the window while four staff members were in the lift at the time of the attack and were briefly stuck.

With most of the windows broken, many of the hospital rooms had collapsed ceilings and wires dangling down. Some staff were planning to stay overnight to help the clean-up.

“If I could give my own life to save the children, I would,” Nina Fiterenko, a hospital cleaner, said. “The West has to give us more support, more air defences – don’t let any more children get hurt.”

As well as the hospital and its patients, much of the hospital’s equipment was badly damaged, meaning any restoration effort will be costly. The hospital is already searching for a new location to continue its work.

A baby was reportedly pulled out from under the rubble on Monday evening and taken to another hospital.

According to Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, two people were killed at the hospital, including a young doctor, and 16 people were injured, of which seven were children. Ukraine’s Ministry of Health announced that Germany is to take some of the children for treatment from Wednesday.

Seven districts in Kyiv were damaged in total, with 82 people injured and at least 22 killed, according to Kyiv’s military administration. Among the damaged areas were a former factory, residential buildings and another medical facility, where at least seven were killed. One metro station was also damaged.

“Russia cannot help but know where its missiles are flying, and must fully answer for all its crimes: against people, against children, against humanity in general,” Mr Zelensky said.

Tuesday has been declared as a day of mourning in the capital.