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to the contrary (even if only for spare parts),
Kremlin analysts might be asking themselves
what else the United States has supplied
without public disclosure.
Attack on a Children's Hospital
The true capabilities of Ukrainian F-16s, the
armament they carry, and how the Ukrainian
Air Force uses them will become clearer in
the coming months. For now, let's focus on
what occurred during the observed period.
Russia has been persistently advancing in the
Donetsk region, employing waves of assaulting
infantry despite suffering significant losses.
They attempt to clear their path using glide
bombs, against which Ukrainian defenses still
lack an effective countermeasure. Ukrainian
attacks on airfields and ammunition depots,
which we described in the previous section,
managed only to reduce the intensity of these
attacks. Instead of dropping an average of 150
glide bombs per day, Russian aviation recently
reduced that number to less than 100 daily.
However, this is still far too many.
In addition to military targets, Russian
forces regularly hit civilian targets, and this
month was no exception. In this part of the
article, we first look at the worst attack during
the recent period. It occurred on Monday, July
8, just before the NATO summit in Washington,
where Ukraine was also present. On that day,
Russia launched more than 40 missiles at the
cities of Kyiv, Kryvyi Rih, Dnipro, Pokrovsk,
and Kropyvnytskyi. The attacks resulted in
47 deaths and 189 injuries.
Among the targets was the Ochmatdyt
Children's Hospital in Kyiv. At the time of the
attack, the hospital housed 600 pediatric
patients and approximately the same number
of medical staff. Two adults lost their lives,
including a young doctor. Another 16 people
were injured, seven of whom were children.
The dialysis department, where children
received treatment, was completely destroyed,
and several other departments were damaged,
including specialized oncology laboratories,
the only ones of their kind in Ukraine.
Moscow responded by claiming it only
targets military objects, releasing several
versions of what might have happened. This is
a typical style of Russian propaganda—flooding
the information space to dilute and weaken the
truth. According to the Kremlin, Ukrainians
either intentionally or accidentally struck
the hospital themselves, mentioning several
types of Western-made missiles. However,
considering that missiles like those from the
IRIS
-
T system cannot cause such extensive
damage, one fact has worked against Russia
from the start. The attack was captured on
video, clearly showing the distinctive shape of
a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile, complete with
the TRDD-50A jet engine mounted under the
rear section. The missile showed no signs of
damage and was heading toward the hospital
on a typical trajectory. All these indicators
rule out an accidental strike; the hospital was
a deliberate target. The attack was carried
out by members of the 22nd Heavy Bomber
Aviation Division from the Engels-2 base near
Saratov.
Struck children's hospital Ochmatdyt in Kyiv.
The impact of the Russian Kh-101 missile on the hospital was captured on video.
Note the jet engine under its rear part.
Ukrainian Su-27 in an illustrative image.
UKRAINE
INFO Eduard32
September 2024