'We Will Never Forgive': Strike Kills 2-Day-Old Ukrainian

Overnight rocket attack destroys hospital maternity ward in southern Ukraine
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 23, 2022 10:00 AM CST
'We Will Never Forgive': Strike Kills 2-Day-Old Ukrainian
In this photo, Ukrainian firefighters work at a damaged hospital maternity ward in Vilniansk, in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine, early Wednesday.   (Zaporizhzhia region military administration via AP)

A maternity unit in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia region held a single mother and newborn when it was struck by a Russian missile overnight, reports the BBC. The baby, a 2-day-old boy named Kyrylo Kamyanskyi, didn't survive the attack; his mother Maria and a doctor who suffered some burns were pulled from the rubble. The maternity ward at the Vilniansk hospital was destroyed, reports ABC News. "We are now trying to save some of the expensive equipment from the maternity ward," said Mayor Natalia Musienko. "But, of course, the biggest loss is the death of a baby. Human lives are the most precious. We can't return them."

The BBC notes that the Zaporizhzhia region is home to a crucial nuclear plant and has been a long-standing focus of Russian attacks. President Volodymyr Zelensky framed Russia as trying "to achieve with terror and murder what it wasn't able to achieve for nine months" on the ground. The AP reports first lady Olena Zelenska tweeted of the newborn's death, "Horrible pain. We will never forget and never forgive." A strike on a maternity hospital in Mariupol in March killed three, including a baby. The Guardian reports that by the WHO's tally, there have been 600-plus attacks on health care facilities, personnel, and transport in Ukraine since the invasion began. (More Ukraine stories.)

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