Newborn killed in Russian maternity ward strike

A newborn baby has been killed in a Russian attack on a maternity ward, Ukrainian officials say.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the Kremlin “bad” after reports of the tragedy in the southern Zaporizhia region.

Rockets hit Vilnianska Hospital at night while a woman was in labor with a doctor by her side.

Rescuers say the mother and doctor were rescued from the rubble of the two-story building, but the baby died.

Sadness fills the hearts of Ukrainians, Zaporozhye governor Oleksandr Starukh said.

He wrote on Telegram: “Russian monsters fired huge missiles overnight into the small maternity ward of the Vilnyansk hospital.

“Grief fills our hearts – a baby who had just appeared in this world was killed.”

President Zelenskyy warned that the “terror and murder” brought to his country this morning will have consequences.

“The enemy has again chosen to try through terror and murder to achieve what they have not and have not been able to achieve for nine months,” he said.

“Instead, it will only be held responsible for all the damage it has done to our country.”

Russia did not immediately comment on the baby’s death, but denied attacking civilians in the past.

Emergency services shared video of rescuers trying to free a man trapped waist-deep in the rubble of what appears to be a maternity ward.

It is believed no one else was trapped in the rubble.

It is not the first time Vladimir Putin’s troops have been accused of attacking a maternity ward.

On March 9, a bomb attack on a hospital in the port city of Mariupol killed at least four people and injured 16.

President Zelenskyy then asked NATO to close the skies over Ukraine, saying “How long will the world be complicit in ignoring terror? Now close the skies! Stop the killings! You have power, but you seem to be losing humanity .’

.