President Vlodymyr Zelensky warned today that ‘millions’ of Ukrainians could die if NATO and the West wait for World War Three to start before imposing a no-fly zone over Ukraine to stop Vladimir Putin’s bombing campaign.
He also warned that Russia wants Ukrainians to ‘feel like animals’ as he urged NATO and the West to act two weeks after Moscow launched an all-out invasion of his homeland – and added that Putin is ‘going directly to hell’.
‘They want us to feel like animals because they blocked our cities, the biggest cities in Ukraine and they blocked them because they don’t want our people to get some food or water,’ he said in an interview with Sky News.
‘We can’t stop all of this alone. Only if the world will unite around Ukraine.
‘Don’t wait for me to ask you several times, a million times, to close the sky. You have to phone us, to our people who lost their children, and say ”sorry we didn’t do it yesterday”.
‘The world did nothing. I’m sorry, but it’s true. In future, it will be too late. They will close the sky but will lose millions of people [while they wait]’.
His comments came after a maternity hospital in the city of Mariupol was decimated in a ‘direct hit’ by Russian rockets on Wednesday afternoon, which left children buried in the rubble.
Footage has emerged of badly wounded patients and nurses being evacuated from decimated buildings, while pregnant women were carried out on stretchers into a courtyard covered in rubble and littered with huge craters.
At least 17 people, including women in labour, were injured in the attack, officials said.
Zelensky himself posted a video showing the badly damaged hospital buildings, filmed inside a destroyed ward room with its windows blown out and ceiling partially collapsed.
More footage showed a car park covered in rubble and the smouldering wrecks of vehicles as injured families staggered into the freezing air while snow fell.
‘Direct strike of Russian troops at the maternity hospital. People, children are under the wreckage. Atrocity! How much longer will the world be an accomplice ignoring terror? Close the sky right now! Stop the killings! You have power but you seem to be losing humanity,’ the President tweeted, before announcing on his Telegram channel that the hospital strike ‘is the ultimate proof that what is happening is the genocide of Ukrainians’.
‘Europeans, you can’t say you didn’t see what is happening. You have to tighten the sanctions until Russia can’t continue their savage war,’ he said.
The bombing took place during what was supposed to be a ceasefire in Mariupol so that civilians could evacuate. It marks the fourth time a so-called ‘humanitarian corridor’ out of the city has failed because Russian forces opened fire.
It is feared the evacuations are simply a precursor to Russia stepping up its bombardment of the cities to wear down dogged Ukrainian defenders before rolling in troops and tanks to capture them.
CIA Director William Burns, briefing Congress on Putin’s state of mind Tuesday, warned the ‘angry and frustrated’ despot is ‘likely to double down and try to grind down the Ukrainian military with no regard for civilian casualties.’
Giving an update on the military situation this afternoon, Ukrainian commanders said Russian units continue to try and surround the capital Kyiv with attacks taking place to the west and north-east of the city, with several highways blocked.
New footage released on Wednesday purported to show Russian armour just 13 miles from Kyiv as the invaders pushed through the town of Irpin.
Fighting is also going on close to the city of Sumy in an attempt to surround Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv, commanders said. Battles have also broken out around the city of Mykolaiv, in the south, as Russians attempt to push out from Kherson towards Odessa – but were turned back.
President Vlodymyr Zelensky warned today that ‘millions’ of Ukrainians could die if NATO and the West wait for World War Three to start before imposing a no-fly zone over Ukraine to stop Vladimir Putin’s bombing campaign
A woman walks outside the damaged by shelling maternity hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, after it was destroyed in a ‘direct hit’ by a Russian rocket on Wednesday
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter that there were ‘people, children under the wreckage’ of the hospital and called the strike an ‘atrocity.’
Zelensky urged the world to ‘unite around Ukraine’ and do more to protect the country following the Russian invasion on February 24.
He said that only by fighting in Ukraine would ‘people from Europe or USA’, who are far away, understand ‘the heart of this tragedy’.
‘You can’t understand the details because you are not fighting here and I understand why, and I don’t want them to fight. But these countries can help, can unite,’ he said.
‘We are speaking about closing the sky. You can’t decide to close or not to close. You can’t decide if you are united against the Nazis and this terror. You have to close.’
He warned international leaders not to ‘wait for me to ask you several times, a million times, to close the sky’.
‘Yesterday the world did nothing. I’m sorry, but it’s true,’ he warned.
‘In future, it will be too late. Believe me, it’s prolonged this way. Yes, you will see, they will close the sky but will lose millions of people [while they wait]’.
President Zelensky described the attack as an ‘atrocity’, accusing world leaders of being ‘accomplice to terror’ by refusing to take out incoming Russian rockets
The burning wreckage of a car is seen outside a destroyed children’s hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which has been under heavy Russian bombardment for more than a week
A Ukrainian soldier examines a huge crater caused by one of the Russian rockets, which fell just in front of a hospital building at the maternity hospital in Mariupol
It comes hours after the Ukrainian president posted a video showing the badly damaged maternity hospital in Mariupol, describing the attack as an ‘atrocity’.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson condemned the strike as ‘depraved’ and vowed to step up support to the beleaguered Ukrainian military.
‘There are few things more depraved than targeting the vulnerable and defenceless,’ the Prime Minister declared.
‘The UK is exploring more support for Ukraine to defend against airstrikes and we will hold Putin to account for his terrible crimes,’ he added.
The White House press secretary Jen Psaki also commented: ‘As a mother – I know a number of you are mothers – it is horrifying to see the barbaric use of military force to go after innocent civilians in a sovereign country.’
Mariupol’s city council said the hospital had suffered ‘colossal’ damage but did not immediately give a figure of the wounded and dead.
The deputy head of Mr Zelensky’s office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said authorities are trying to establish the number of victims.
Video footage from the aftermath of the attack showed that large parts of the hospital had completely collapsed, while blood soaked mattresses were pictured lying in hallways.
‘Today Russia committed a huge crime,’ said Volodymir Nikulin, a top regional police official, standing in the ruins. ‘It is a war crime without any justification.’
Mariupol has been under heavy Russian bombardment for more than a week, with food, water and electricity cut off several days ago – with the Red Cross describing conditions there as ‘apocalyptic’.
Just hours before the hospital was hit, Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba warned that 3,000 babies were without food or medicines and begged for a humanitarian corridor to allow them to flee. Moscow had promised a ceasefire in the city today so civilians could be evacuated, but failed for the fourth time to keep its word.
Ukrainian emergency employees and volunteers carry an injured pregnant woman from the damaged by shelling maternity hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 9, 2022
A woman injured in Russian shelling of Mariupol’s maternity hospital stands outside wrapped in a blanket amid the carnage
This image taken from video provided by the Mariupol City Council shows the aftermath of Mariupol Hospital after an attack, in Mariupol, Ukraine, Wednesday March 9, 2022
A maternity hospital in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol has suffered ‘colossal’ damage after a ‘direct hit’ by Russian rocket artillery that left children buried in the rubble (pictured, a badly damaged room at the hospital)
Video footage from the aftermath of the attack showed that large parts of the hospital had completely collapsed, while blood soaked mattresses were pictured lying in hallways.
‘Today Russia committed a huge crime,’ said Volodymir Nikulin, a top regional police official, standing in the ruins. ‘It is a war crime without any justification.’
Mariupol has been under heavy Russian bombardment for more than a week, with food, water and electricity cut off several days ago – with the Red Cross describing conditions there as ‘apocalyptic’.
Just hours before the hospital was hit, Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba warned that 3,000 babies were without food or medicines and begged for a humanitarian corridor to allow them to flee. Moscow had promised a ceasefire in the city today so civilians could be evacuated, but failed for the fourth time to keep its word.
Residents of Mariupol were pictured on Wednesday dumping bodies into mass graves dug on the outskirts of the city in a desperate attempt to remove the dead amid the sustained Russian bombardment.
It is not the first time that Russian airstrikes have targeted hospitals. While fighting alongside Bashar al-Assad in Syria in 2016, Putin’s generals were accused of ‘deliberately and systematically’ blowing up hospitals as a way of weakening the city of Aleppo ahead of a ground assault.
Observers have suggested that Russia is now using a Syria-style battleplan against Ukraine after its early precision strikes failed.
The Ukrainian Healthcare Center, a think-tank based in the country, says that between the outbreak of fighting on February 24 and today, their team documented 42 cases of Russian forces attacking either healthcare facilities or medics in order to deliberately provoke a ‘humanitarian crisis’.
Hospitals had been struck in every theatre where Russian forces were operating, the think-tank said, including Donetsk, Luhansk, Mariupol, Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Sumy, Zhytomyr, Zaporizhzhia and Mykolaiv.
‘The humanitarian catastrophe is a part of Russia’s hybrid war. [It] intends to spread panic, create a flow of refugees at the borders and force the Ukrainian government to surrender,’ said Pavlo Kovtonyuk, co-founder of the think-tank.
The bombing took place during what was supposed to be a ceasefire in Mariupol so that civilians could evacuate. It marks the fourth time a so-called ‘humanitarian corridor’ out of the city has failed because Russian forces opened fire.
Fighting is also going on close to the city of Sumy in an attempt to surround Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv, commanders said. Battles have also broken out around the city of Mykolaiv, in the south, as Russians attempt to push out from Kherson towards Odessa – but were turned back.
Meanwhile at least 10 people were killed in a Russian military attack in the eastern Ukrainian town of Severodonestk on Tuesday, a local official for the Luhansk region said in a statement on Telegram.
The Russian military ‘opened fire’ on residential homes and other buildings in the town, he said, without immediately specifying whether it was an artillery attack. The region has seen heavy fighting in recent days.
Russia’s defence ministry meanwhile acknowledged for the first time on Wednesday that some conscripts had been sent to fight on the frontlines in Ukraine, just days after Putin promised that only professional soldiers would be sent in.
Some associations of soldiers’ mothers in Russia had raised concerns about a number of conscripts going incommunicado at the start of what Kremlin calls a ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine, suggesting they could have been sent to fight despite a lack of adequate training.
The revelation comes just one week after Russia’s parliament passed a law imposing a prison term of up to 15 years for spreading intentionally ‘fake’ news about the military.
‘Unfortunately, we have discovered several facts of the presence of conscripts in units taking part in the special military operation in Ukraine. Practically all such soldiers have been pulled out to Russia,’ the defence ministry said, promising to prevent such situations in the future.
Houses destroyed by shelling, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, are seen in Sumy
Houses damaged by shelling, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, are seen in Sumy
Debris and houses destroyed by shelling, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, are seen in Sumy
New members of the Territorial Defence Forces train to operate RPG-7 anti-tank launcher during military exercises in Kyiv
Ukrainian servicemen evacuate a person across Irpin River below a destroyed bridge as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues
A baby is evacuated as people flee near a destroyed bridge to cross the Irpin River, on the outskirts of Kyiv, as Russian forces try to surround it in ahead of an attack
Russians are just 13 miles from centre of Kyiv: Footage shows Putin’s men making advances into Irpin to the Ukrainian capital’s northwest
By David Averre for MailOnline
New footage has emerged of Russian tanks driving through a suburb just 13 miles from the centre of Kyiv, two weeks after the invasion of Ukraine began.
The video, filmed this morning in the town of Irpin on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital, shows several tanks and over a dozen soldiers slowly trundling through a residential area.
Irpin, which lies north-west of Kyiv, has for days been under a constant barrage of Russian shells which have decimated the quiet suburban town and caused many of its residents to flee.
The town is located adjacent to Bucha, where an entire convoy of Russian armour was turned to scrap metal last week in a bitter show of resistance from Ukrainian soldiers and members of the territorial defence forces.
Russia’s advance through Irpin comes on the same day that a maternity hospital in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol received a direct hit from Russian rockets in Putin’s most heinous war crime yet.
The video, filmed this morning in the town of Irpin on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital, shows several Russian tanks and over a dozen soldiers slowly trundling through a residential area
Irpin, which lies north-west of Kyiv, has for days been under a constant barrage of Russian shells which have decimated the quiet suburban town and caused many of its residents to flee
A Ukrainian Territorial Defence Forces member hugs a resident who leaves his home town following Russian artillery shelling in Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 9, 2022
Irpin, which lies north-west of Kyiv, has for days been under a constant barrage of Russian shells which have decimated the quiet suburban town and caused many of its residents to flee
Many of the residents still left in Irpin finally abandoned their homes today, traversing destroyed bridges, decimated roads and icy terrain pockmarked with craters
A baby is carried as people flee near a destroyed bridge to cross Irpin River as Russia’s invasion on Ukraine continues, in Irpin outside Kyiv
Russian armour can be seen making its way down one of the main roads through Irpin, before the vehicles stop and over a dozen soldiers are seen filing into position on their flanks.
It is unclear whether the tanks seen filing through Irpin are a detachment which broke off from the main convoy of Russian vehicles, which has for days been stalled just north of Kyiv amid mechanical failures and fuel supply issues.
But their seemingly unopposed incursion into Irpin is demonstrative of the brutality enacted by Russian bombing campaigns on the peaceful town, which has for three days endured a hail of artillery fire with no electricity or running water.
Many of the residents still left in Irpin finally abandoned their homes today, traversing destroyed bridges, decimated roads and icy terrain pockmarked with craters.
One citizen, who herself had recently fled Mariupol to be with her children in Irpin, said: ‘It’s cold. There’s no water, no electricity, nothing to cook with.
‘Our guys are saving us, and our friends are helping us,’ she added, while another elderly resident of Irpin suffering from heart disease thanked the ‘guardian angels’ who aided her as she scrambled over the arduous terrain.
As Russian armour inches closer to Kyiv, Ukrainian soldiers and members of the territorial defence forces announced today that invaders who reach the capital ‘are going to burn’ as they got to grips with new weapons.
Video emerged of the city’s defenders training with a host of anti-tank weapons as they prepare to repel the advancing Russian tanks.
UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace today confirmed that the British Army has sent 3,615 NLAW anti-tank weapons to Ukraine – up from the previously-announced figure of 2,000 – and ‘small consignments’ of the anti-aircraft Javelin missile system.
Wallace told the Commons earlier today that the Ministry of Defence was also looking at whether they could supply more weapons in the coming days as Putin’s bombardment intensifies.
‘We can all see the horrific devastation inflicted on civilian areas by Russian artillery and air strikes, indiscriminate and murderous,’ he said.
‘It is vital, therefore, that Ukraine maintains its ability to fly and to suppress Russian air attack.’
Members of the Ukrainian Territorial Defence Forces examine new armament, including NLAW anti-tank systems and other portable anti-tank grenade launchers, in Kyiv on March 9, 2022
As Russian armour inches closer to Kyiv, Ukrainian soldiers and members of the territorial defence forces announced today that invaders who reach the capital ‘are going to burn’ as they got to grips with new weapons
UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace today confirmed that the British Army has sent 3,615 NLAW anti-tank weapons to Ukraine – up from the previously-announced figure of 2,000 – and ‘small consignments’ of the anti-aircraft Javelin missile system
Residents cross the destroyed bridge as they flee from the frontline town of Irpin, Kyiv (Kiev) region, Ukraine, 09 March 2022
A man carries a dog as people flee, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in Irpin, Ukraine, March 9, 2022
Wallace said that ‘in response to a Ukrainian request’ the Government was exploring the donation of Starstreak high-velocity man-portable anti-air missiles.
It comes as Russia stepped up its bombardment of several Ukrainian cities and Putin committed his most heinous war crime yet – launching a strike on a maternity hospital in the southern port city of Mariupol.
Footage has emerged of badly wounded patients and nurses being evacuated from decimated buildings, while pregnant women were carried out on stretchers into a courtyard covered in rubble and littered with huge craters.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky himself posted a video showing the badly damaged hospital buildings, filmed inside a destroyed ward room with its windows blown out and ceiling partially collapsed.
More footage showed a car park covered in rubble and the smouldering wrecks of vehicles as injured families staggered into the freezing air while snow fell.
Ukrainian emergency employees and volunteers carry an injured pregnant woman from the damaged by shelling maternity hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 9, 2022
This image taken from video provided by the Mariupol City Council shows the aftermath of Mariupol Hospital after an attack, in Mariupol, Ukraine, Wednesday March 9, 2022
The burning wreckage of a car is seen outside a destroyed children’s hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which has been under heavy Russian bombardment for more than a week
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