Tania Matiash
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, emphasized that the actions of the Russian military, which today launched a missile strike on a maternity hospital in Mariupol, are beyond brutality.
He stated this in an address to Ukrainians.
"Europeans! Ukrainians! Mariupol residents! Today is a day that determines everything. Determines who is on whose side. Russian bombs fell on a hospital and maternity hospital in Mariupol. Children's hospital. Functioning maternity hospital! Buildings are destroyed. Currently, there are 17 people injured. People are still cleaning rubbles. "People started to hide on time when they here air alert sirens, when 500-kilogram air bombs repeatedly dropped by occupiers fell on Ukrainian cities," Zelenskyy said.
The President also addressed the Russians in Russian.
"Children's hospital. Maternity hospital. How did they threaten the Russian Federation? What kind of country is this - the Russian Federation, that is afraid of hospitals and maternity hospitals and destroys them? Were there little "banderovtsy" [patriotic way to call Ukrainian]? Were pregnant women going to fire at Rostov? Was there someone in the maternity hospital humiliating Russian-speaking people? "Was it the denazification of the hospital?" Zelenskyy asked.
He emphasized that what Russian troops were doing in Mariupol was "even beyond atrocities." Zelenskyy addressed Western countries to be united in condemning this war crime of Russia.
"All the destroyed cities. What they did to Volnovakha, Kharkiv, Izium, Okhtyrka, Chernihiv, Borodyanka, Hostomel, Zhytomyr. And dozens of other Ukrainian cities that never were a threat to Russia. Destroyed hospitals, destroyed schools, churches, houses. And all the people killed, the children killed. The air bomb dropped on the maternity hospital is the final proof. Proof that the genocide of Ukrainians is happening. Europeans! You can't say that you didn't see what happened to Ukrainians. What happened to the citizens of Mariupol. You saw. You know, "Zelenskyy emphasized.
He asked to make the sanctions against Russia tougher so that it would no longer have the opportunity to continue the genocide.
"You have to put pressure on Russia so that they sit down at the negotiating table and end this brutal war," Zelenskyy said.
Then the President again addressed the Russian occupiers.
"Moscow knows that Mariupol is a part of the Donetsk region. We have heard so much from Russia about the residents of the Donetsk region. So many accusations, so many demands ... And we see now how Russia treats the Donetsk region. Ordinary people, those, who live in Mariupol houses, work at Mariupol enterprises, are treated in Mariupol hospitals, and give birth in Mariupol maternity hospitals. We never did, and we would never do anything like this to any city of Donetsk or Luhansk region, in any city on the Earth because we are humans. And you?- said Zelensky.
The President also said that he had spoken today to the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson.
"The partners are fully informed about what is happening in our Mariupol. And about the situation in all regions of Ukraine where war actions continue. We are working to make Russia feel the consequences of its actions. We are doing everything to secure our sky finally. I am grateful to most Ukrainians who support this position, who collect signatures, persuade their acquaintances in the West, write on social networks, and organize protests.
"Together, we must give back the courage to some Western leaders. So that they can finally do what they should have done on the first day of the invasion: or close the Ukrainian sky from Russian missiles and bombs, or give us fighter jets to do everything ourselves. The pause without the decision has become deadly, "Zelenskyy added.
Today, on 9 March 2022, the Russian occupiers attacked with artillery fire maternity hospital №2 in Mariupol. According to the head of the Donetsk Region Military Administration, Pavlo Kyrylenko, the maternity unit, the hospital, pediatric unit, and therapy unit were destroyed. Later, the head of DRMA said that there were no casualties after the attack on the maternity hospital in Mariupol. So far, 17 staff members and patients are known to have been injured.
Deputy City Mayor Serhiy Orlov said that 1,170 people had died in the two weeks of the war in Mariupol, and 47 were buried in a mass grave today.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy once again asked Europe to close the sky over Ukraine. First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, also reacted to Russia's bombing of a maternity hospital and children's hospital in Mariupol. She asked to close the sky and emphasized that Russian enemy aircraft were already openly destroying civilians.
Adviser to the Head of the President's Office, Oleksiy Arestovych, stated that now the occupiers face even more severe rebuff from the Armed Forces of Ukraine. "Listen here. Before the attack on the maternity hospital in Mariupol, it was" all flowers. "Now, monsters, a completely different war will begin!" said Arestovich.