2-day-old baby killed as missile hits Ukraine maternity hospital

Kyiv, November 23

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An overnight rocket attack destroyed a hospital maternity ward in southern Ukraine, killing a 2-day-old baby, Ukrainian authorities said on Wednesday.

Ukraine’s first lady said the attack caused “horrible pain,” vowing that “we will never forget and never forgive.” The baby’s mother and a doctor were pulled alive from the rubble in Vilniansk, close to the city of Zaporizhzhia.

The region’s governor said the rockets were Russian. The strike adds to the gruesome toll suffered by hospitals and other medical facilities in the Russian invasion that will enter its tenth month this week.

“At night, Russian monsters launched huge rockets at the small maternity ward of the hospital in Vilniansk. Grief overwhelms our hearts — a baby was killed who had just seen the light of day. Rescuers are working at the site,” said the regional governor, Oleksandr Starukh, writing on the Telegram messaging app.

Medical workers’ efforts have been complicated by recent attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure that have damaged the power grid. State grid operator Ukrenergo said that all regions of Ukraine would see power outages on Wednesday.

“Breathing machines don’t work, X-ray machines don’t work… There is only one portable ultrasound machine and we carry it constantly,” said a doctor, Volodymyr Malishchuk. — PTI

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