Russia reportedly strikes Ukraine maternity hospital as health care attacks mount

Enlarge / A nurse waits as another staff places sand bags near the window for protection in Kramatorsk City Hospital in eastern Ukraine. (credit: Getty | SOPA Images)

The World Health Organization has verified 18 Russian attacks on health care resources in Ukraine, including attacks on health care facilities, health workers, and ambulances, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a press briefing Wednesday. The verified attacks, which are all in violation of international humanitarian law, involved 10 deaths and 16 injuries.

The latest tally came as reports circulated online that Russian forces had carried out a "direct strike" on a maternity hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeted video footage of the wreckage, writing, "People, children are under the wreckage. Atrocity!" The footage shows a person walking through a hallway, passing room after room in ruin. The brightly colored rooms have their windows blown out, furniture destroyed, and other rubble strewn about. The video captures glimpses of flipped beds, a crib, a pink changing table, a small child-sized cot, and a trail of blood on the debris littering the floor, though no injured people are seen.

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