INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The United Nations on Tuesday said there was a "high likelihood" that the children's hospital in Kyiv suffered "a direct hit" from a Russian
missile.Danielle Bell, head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, called Monday's strike "one of the most egregious attacks
that we've seen since the onset of the full-scale invasion" in February 2022.She was speaking after Russia attacked cities across Ukraine on
Monday with a missile barrage that killed more than three dozen people and ripped open the Okhmatdyt children's hospital in Kyiv, sparking
international outcry.Dozens of volunteers including hospital staff and rescue workers dug through debris from the hospital in a desperate
search for survivors after the rare daytime bombardment, AFP journalists on the scene saw.Russia has denied that it was responsible for the
hospital strike, claiming the extensive missile damage in Kyiv was caused by Ukrainian air defense systems.But Bell told reporters in Geneva
that video footage "shows the weapon directly impacting the hospital."The Okhmatdyt pediatric hospital is a children's specialist facility
where families from across the country bring their children for treatment of serious medical conditions, such as cancer and kidney disease,
she said, speaking via video link from Kyiv."Analysis of the video footage and assessment made at the incident site indicates a high
likelihood that the children's hospital suffered a direct hit, rather than receiving damages due to an intercepted weapons system."This must
be investigated," said Bell, who said her team and military experts had observed the damage at the hospital and spoken to staff, patients'
parents and local residents.She said that at the time of the attack, 670 child patients and more than a thousand medical staff were
present.Bell said Russia had likely fired from an aircraft a Kh-101 air-to-surface cruise missile armed with several hundred kilograms of
explosives."The factors suggesting that it was a direct hit are based on video footage which shows the technical specification of the type
of weapon that was used; it shows the weapon directly impacting the hospital, rather than being intercepted in the air," said Bell.
