U.S. condemns 'barbaric' attack on Ukraine children's hospital

 Reuters, LVIV, Ukraine, March 9 - The US criticized the bombing of a children's hospital in Ukraine on Wednesday, saying that despite a ceasefire agreement allowing residents to leave the besieged city of Mariupol, a Russian air attack buried patients under rubble.

The bombing, which injured women in labor and left toddlers in the ruins, is the latest tragic incident of the 14-day invasion, which has been described as the largest assault on a European state since 1945.

Despite a Russian promise to stop firing so that at least some trapped residents might flee the city, where hundreds of thousands have been without water or power for more than a week, the destruction occurred.

When contacted for response by Reuters, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov replied, "Russian military do not fire on civilian targets." Russia describes its assault as a "special operation" aimed at disarming its neighbor and removing "neo-Nazi" leaders.

The Ukrainian foreign ministry released video footage of the hospital, which showed holes where windows should have been in a three-story structure. The landscape was covered with huge heaps of smoldering rubble.

"To see the callous use of military force against innocent citizens in a sovereign country is horrifying," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.

The United Nations Human Rights Commission said its monitoring mission was verifying the number of deaths.

"The event adds to our profound worries about indiscriminate use of weapons in inhabited areas and civilians caught in the middle of ongoing operations in a variety of regions," said spokesman Liz Throssell.

According to the governor of the Donetsk region, 17 persons were injured in the event. The hospital had been hit by an air strike several times, leaving "colossal" damage, according to the city council.

Ukraine has accused Russia of violating the ceasefire agreement in the area of the southern port.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba commented on Twitter, "Indiscriminate shelling continues."

Since the invasion, Ukraine says 67 children have been killed across the country, with at least 1,170 civilians slain in Mariupol. The figures could not be independently verified.

Images from earlier in the day, according to satellite imaging company Maxar, showed considerable damage to homes, apartment complexes, grocery stores, and retail malls in Mariupol.

The failure of the evacuation was blamed on Ukraine by Russia's defense ministry.

There are indications that Russia's military is employing bombs that are not precision-guided, according to a senior US defense official.

Local officials stated that some citizens have fled numerous Ukrainian cities via safe corridors, including Sumy in the east and Enerhodar in the south, but that Russian forces were stopping buses from evacuating civilians from Bucha, a village outside of Kyiv's capital.