Russian daytime attack on Ukraine kills at least 20, hits children's hospital in Kyiv

Kyiv (Reuters): Russia launched a barrage of missiles on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities in a rare daytime attack on Monday, killing at least 20 people across the country and hitting a key children's hospital, officials said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the Russian forces fired more than 40 missiles targeting different cities and damaging infrastructure, commercial and residential buildings in different Ukrainian cities.

Kyiv city authorities said seven people were killed and at least 25 were wounded in the strike on the capital. In Kryviy Rih, the native city of Zelenskiy, 10 people were killed and 31 were injured, said Mayor Oleksandr Vilkul.

Another three people died in Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine when missiles hit an industrial facility, said Donestk regional governor.

"All services are involved to save as many people as possible," Zelenskiy said on the Telegram messaging app. "And the whole world should use all its determination to finally put an end to the Russian strikes."

Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilians.

The major attack on Ukraine came as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban met Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss a potential Ukraine peace deal, paying an unexpected visit to Beijing.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the attack on the capital was one of the heaviest since the start of Russia's invasion in February 2022.

He said the city's main children hospital was damaged in the strike. Windows were smashed and panels ripped off. Parents holding babies walked out into the street, dazed and sobbing.

"We heard an explosion, then we were showered with debris,” Svitlaka Kravchenko, 33, told Reuters after she and her husband Viktor, went out from the shelter.

Their two-month old baby had been unharmed, but Svitlana had suffered cuts, and their car was totally buried under the rubble of the destroyed building across the courtyard from the main ward.

“It was scary. I couldn’t breathe, I was trying to cover (my baby). I was trying to cover him with this cloth so that he could breathe," she said.

Local and regional authorities said industrial facilities, infrastructure and residential and commercial buildings were damaged in Kyi, Kryviy Rih, Dnipro, Pokrovsk, Kramatarosk and others.