Putin’s army is threatening to target a children’s hospital in Kyiv, as the blood thirsty Kremlin tyrant turns the screws on Ukraine.
Authorities in Kyiv fear an imminent missile strike on two civilian medical centres after Belarus accused Ukraine of using them to hide “terrorists”.
At a conference on Thursday, the head of the Belarusian KGB provided the address of two hospitals in the Ukraine capital which he claimed were being used to conceal military personnel.
Ivan Tertel told delegates at the VII All-Belarusian People’s Assembly: “Punishment awaits all terrorists… despite the fact that they chose Kyiv hospitals at the address Bogatyrskaya 30 and 32, where they actually hid behind the backs of sick children.”
His remarks were interpreted as paving the way for a Russian air strike on the hospitals.
The hospitals were evacuated as a precaution by officials in Ukraine‘s capital, who denounced the Belarusian accusations as “an absolute lie”.
Children on stretches were seen taken out of the hospital on Bogatyrska street to waiting ambulances.
In a video post to his Telegram channel from the hospital, Kyiv’s mayor Vitaly Klitschko said everything was being done to protect the kids and their parents.
“Two hospitals are being evacuated, one of which is a children’s hospital on Bogatyrska Street,” he said.
“Doctors act in a coordinated manner, ‘ambulances’ take patients to other hospitals in the city.
“We are doing everything to protect children, their parents, adult patients and staff from a possible attack on these medical facilities, which was announced by the aggressor.”
Russia has regularly targeted civilian infrastructure throughout the war, killing thousands of civilians.
The World Health Organisation has recorded at least 1,682 attacks against Ukraine’s health care system since the beginning of the war.
These caused 128 deaths and 288 injuries, according to WHO statistics released in early April.
In one of the most notorious attacks, Russia bombed a maternity hospital in the southern city of Mariupol in March 2022, in what Kyiv and Western officials have called a war crime.
Belarus is a close ally of Russia and has allowed Russian weapons and troops on to its territory.
Putin’s airforce regularly launches attacks on Ukraine from Belarus, which scrapped its neutrality at the start of the war.
Emily Hudson
It’s horrifying to see innocent children being put in harm’s way like this. Putin’s actions are inexcusable and must be condemned by the international community immediately.