By Shawn Seddon, BBC News
ReutersUkraine is in mourning after the deadliest Russian missile attack in months, which left at least 41 people dead and 166 wounded.
Among the buildings damaged in several cities across the country on Monday was a major children’s hospital in the capital Kiev.
Missile attack kills 2 Flattened section of Omadit Children’s Hospital – The search for survivors under the rubble of Ukraine’s largest pediatric facility continued into the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Meanwhile, the governor of the Belgorod region in southern Russia, which borders Ukraine, said four people had been killed in Ukrainian airstrikes in the past 24 hours.
Russia on Monday denied it had attacked a Kiev hospital, saying it was hit by shrapnel from a Ukrainian air defense missile, while Ukraine said it had found debris from a Russian cruise missile.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the attack “brutal” and described Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “brutal criminal.”
NATO is due to hold a summit in Washington on Tuesday, and the military bloc’s response to the Ukraine invasion will be top of the agenda.
ReutersWorld leaders allied with Ukraine condemned the attack, including Britain’s new Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
He said “attacks on innocent children” were “the most depraved acts” and pledged to continue supporting Kiwi even after a change of government in Britain.
U.S. President Joe Biden called the strikes a “horrific reminder of Russian brutality” and said additional aid to Ukraine’s air defense systems would be announced soon.
President Zelensky said Russia fired more than 40 missiles on Monday, damaging about 100 buildings in Kiev, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.
Photos from the blast site at the Kiwi Hospital, which specializes in cancer treatment and organ transplants, show children receiving intravenous drips sitting outside the damaged facility as they waited to be evacuated.
Rescue workers and medical personnel dug through the rubble to find survivors, but it was unclear how many were still trapped.
On Monday afternoon, Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said 16 people, including seven children, were injured in the hospital strike.
He said the attacks across the city were among the most serious Kiev had suffered since the start of the war, and ordered flags to be flown at half-mast on Tuesday and entertainment events to be canceled.
Ukrainian tennis player Elina Svitolina wore a black ribbon as a sign of respect when she played in the last 16 of Wimbledon on Monday afternoon following the strike.
PA Media“It wasn’t easy to concentrate on the game today,” she said in a post-match interview, holding back tears.
“It was hard to read the news in the morning. It was really hard to go out on the court.”
The UN human rights watchdog in Ukraine says civilian casualties have been rising in recent months as Russia resumes airstrikes.
A recent report found that May was the month with the highest number of civilian deaths in the past year.
On Tuesday morning, the governor of Russia’s southern Rostov region said a fire broke out at a power plant after Ukraine fired dozens of drones.
