Russian Missiles Pound Ukraine: Civilians and Infrastructure Devastated in Kyiv and Beyond

Russian missile strikes have killed at least 20 people and injured around 50 more in Ukraine. The attacks hit various cities, including Kyiv and Kryvyi Rih, and targeted apartment buildings and public infrastructure. Among the affected sites was a children's hospital in Kyiv, where rescuers are searching for survivors.

Russian missiles killed at least seven people and struck a children's hospital in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on Monday. Another attack in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih killed at least 10.

The Russian barrage targeted five Ukrainian cities with over 40 missiles of different types, hitting apartment buildings and public infrastructure, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a social media post.

At least 20 people were killed and around 50 injured across the country in the Monday morning onslaught, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko confirmed. In Kryvyi Rih, 31 people were injured in addition to the 10 deaths in what Oleksandr Vilkul, the head of city administration, called a massive missile attack. Explosions were also reported in Ukraine's central Dnipropetrovsk region.

At the Okhmatdyt children's hospital in Kyiv, rescuers searched for people trapped under the rubble of a partially collapsed wing, Zelenskyy said, adding that the number of casualties was still unknown.

''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,” Zelenskyy posted on social media.

The attack comes on the eve of a three-day NATO summit in Washington, set to discuss how to reassure Ukraine of the alliance's unwavering support amid Europe's biggest conflict since World War II.

A two-story building at the children's hospital was partly destroyed, and the main 10-story building had its windows and doors blown out, and walls blackened. Medical personnel and locals helped shift rubble, searching for children and medical workers who might be trapped underneath, volunteers formed a line, passing stones and debris while smoke still rose from the building.

It was the heaviest Russian bombardment of Kyiv in almost four months. The attacks included Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, which fly at 10 times the speed of sound, making them hard to intercept, the Ukrainian air force said. The blasts shook city buildings, destroying an entire section of a residential multistory building in one district.

The Kyiv city administration reported falling debris, presumably from intercepted missiles, in several areas, causing fires. Thick plumes of smoke were seen rising from multiple neighborhoods.

Andrii Yermak, head of Ukraine's presidential office, noted that the attack occurred while many were in the city's streets. Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko said assessments of the attack's consequences were ongoing.