Ukrainian children’s hospital attacked as Russian strikes on cities kill at least 39

Kyiv, Ukraine CNN — A Russian missile strike partially destroyed a children’s hospital in Kyiv on Monday, causing terrified patients and their families to flee for their lives, as officials fear more people could be trapped beneath the rubble.

Moscow launched a brazen daytime aerial assault on targets in cities across Ukraine during morning rush hour, killing at least 39 people, according to Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko.

Search and rescue operations continued into Tuesday after the large-scale bombardment struck areas in the capital, as well as in Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, Slovyansk and Kramatorsk.

The death toll includes 29 people in the capital, Klymenko said in an update Tuesday. Earlier, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said four children were among the dead after a boy’s body was found under the rubble in the capital’s Shevchenkivskyi district. Two people were killed and at least 16 others injured in the strike on Kyiv’s Okhmatdyt hospital.

The facility is Ukraine’s largest children’s medical center and has been vital in the care of some of the sickest children from across the country. Every year, around 7,000 surgeries – including treatments for cancer and hematological diseases – are conducted at the hospital, according to Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets.