Ukraine war latest: Putin launches daylight hypersonic missile attack on Ukrainian cities - at least 20 dead and children's hospital hit (2024)

Slovakia's populist Prime Minister Robert Fico this morning took his first trip outside the country's capital since resuming his duties after an assassination attempt.

Mr Fico visited a farm in Slovenska Nova Ves, northeast of capital of Bratislava, along with agriculture minister Richard Takac to check the grain harvest.

While on the visit, Mr Fico said in a brief statement that Slovakia was not ready to lift a ban on imports of agricultural products fromUkraineand thanked farmers for their work.

He was using a walking stick and did not take any questions from the media.

The 59-year-old has previously been compared to former US president Donald Trump and has also expressed sympathy with Vladimir Putin - repeating his unsubstantiated claim that the Ukrainian government runs a Nazi state from which ethnic Russians in the country need protection.

Ukrainian defence minister Rustem Umerov has called for Kyiv's allies to urgently send more air defences in the wake of today's attacks.

"Our defence capabilities are still insufficient... we need more air defence systems," he wrote on Telegram.

He said Ukraine needed "quick decisions" from Ukraine's Western partners on whether they would "provide additional weapons to protect the skies and the civilian population".

Debris from a new Russian rocket attack on Kyiv has killed four people, injured others and damaged a medical centre, according to the city's authorities.

The Kyiv military administration said at least four people died and three were hurt when the multi-storey centre was struck in the city's eastern Dnipro district.

Rescuers are searching for people and working to clear the debris, it said.

Sir Keir Starmer has called Russia's attack on Okhmatdyt children's hospital "the most depraved of actions", as he condemned Moscow for "attacking innocent children".

In a post to X, the UK prime minister reiterated his country's support for Ukraine.

Dutch defence minister Ruben Brekelmans has also branded the strike a "cowardly attack".

"Now that I just returned from Kyiv, it hurts even more to see," he wrote on social media.

"It strengthens my motivation to quickly deliver the Patriot parts and F-16s. And to continue to do more with partners on air defence."

Russia's bombardment of Ukraine looks to be an attack aimed at targeting civilian areas with no "meaningful military targets" anywhere nearby, says our defence and security analyst Professor Michael Clarke.

Providing analysis of Russia's use of "Kinzel" hypersonic missiles in its daylight airstrikes across Ukraine, Prof Clarke says they are "pretty accurate".

"We have to assume that they've more or less been programmed to hit civilian targets," he says.

"One or two of them might have been intercepted, and if they're intercepted, they're going to fall somewhere. But in general, this is obviously a civilian-based attack - an attack based on targeting civilian areas."

While it's difficult to prove whether Russia intended to hit the children's hospital in Kyiv and other residential areas of Ukraine, Prof Clarke says there don't appear to be any "meaningful military targets" near the areas that have been struck by Moscow's forces.

Attack sending message to West - and Ukraine could be hit again

Prof Clarke notes that the bombardment is likely connected to the major NATO summit in Washington this week, as well as the fact Kyiv is about to receive more Western air defences.

"I think this attack is probably designed to inflict damage before Ukraine's air defence is beefed up, which will be towards the end of this summer," he says.

He adds that he "wouldn't be surprised" if Ukraine is not hit by another barrage of missiles later today or tomorrow "in order to try to impress anybody who's turning up" at the NATO summit.

Rescuers are still searching for people under a partially collapsed wing ofOkhmatdyt children's hospital in Kyiv - a key hospital treating young cancer patients.

Windows were smashed and panels ripped off as Russian missiles targeted the city earlier today. Some parents were crying as they left the hospital holding their children.

"We heard an explosion, then we were showered with debris," said Svitlaka Kravchenko.

Her two-month-old baby was unharmed, but she hadsuffered cuts, and her car was buried under the rubbleof the destroyed building.

"It was scary. I couldn't breathe, I was trying to cover [mybaby]. I was trying to cover him with this cloth so that hecould breathe," she said.

Three of Kyiv's electricity substations and electricity grids have been damaged in the Russian missile strike, Ukraine's largest private energy producer DTEK has said.

The company said workers were on the ground to assess the damage.

Most homes on its energy system would be powered by backup sources "in the near future", it added.

Ukraine's power system has suffered significant damage inRussian bombardments in the last four months.

The number of people killed in Kyiv this morning has risen to nine, the Ukrainian prosecutor general's office has said.

Some 33 more people are injured, it said.

We've also heard in the last few moments from Serhii Lysak, governor of Ukraine's Dnipro region, who says one person has died and six people are injured in Dnipro city after it was struck in Russia's major attack.

One of the injured people is in a "serious condition" he said.

Mr Lysak said earlier that at least 10 people had been killed in the city of Kryvyi Rih, with scores more wounded.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the "world should not be silent" after Russian attacks across Ukraine killed at least 20 people and struck a children's hospital in Kyiv.

Mr Zelenskyy said the Okhmatdyt hospital was "one of the most important" in Ukraine and across Europe as a whole.

"Russia cannot help but know where its missiles are flying, and must fully answer for all its crimes: against people, against children, against humanity in general," the Ukrainian president said in a Telegram post.

"It is very important that the world should not be silent about it now and that everyone should see what Russia is and what it is doing."

Russia's heaviest round of missile strikes on Ukraine in several months comes on the eve of a major NATO summit in Washington, says our security and defence editor Deborah Haynes.

She says it's been suggested that the timing of the attack by Vladimir Putin's forces is "no coincidence".

The summit in the US will involve the leaders of all 32 NATO states, including Joe Biden and new UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, and is expected to heavily focus on Ukraine.

"The war in Ukraine will be foremost in their talks with the allies," Haynes says.

"They'll be pledging, of course, more support for Ukrainian forces. Ukraine will be wanting more signs about whether it will be able to join NATO," Haynes adds.

"But clearly for Russia, the war in Ukraine is still carrying on. They have not changed their target and their intent to try to capture Ukraine."

Haynes says Moscow has "sent a message" ahead of the summit that its forces can still "strike and cause horrendous damage".

"You're talking about a children's hospital that's been hit as part of this barrage. We've yet to understand whether children themselves have been injured, but horrendously terrifying."