moscow: Russian airstrikes hit three hospitals in Ukraine on Wednesday, including two west of the capital and a maternity hospital in the besieged port city of Mariupol, where 17 people were wounded in what Ukrainian officials labelled a war crime and an atrocity. The attacks came amid hopes for mass evacuations of civilians from several besieged Ukrainian cities, including Mariupol, which has been without food, water and power for days and which started burying bodies in a mass grave because its morgues are full.Russia, without evidence, accused Ukraine of having chemical weapons labs. White House press secretary Jen Psaki called Russia s claim preposterous and said it could be part of an attempt by Russia to lay the groundwork for using such weapons of mass destruction itself against Ukraine.Here s a look at key things to know about the war:ARE CIVILIANS BEING SAFELY EVACUATED Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said efforts were made Wednesday to evacuate some 18,000 people from embattled towns in the Kyiv region to the capital itself.
Speaking in Russian, he appealed to Russian soldiers to save themselves and just go home. Zelenskyy said late Wednesday that about 35,000 civilians have used humanitarian corridors to flee the fighting. We are praying that it will be possible to take people out of Mariupol, he said.WHAT HAS THE AP DIRECTLY WITNESSED OR CONFIRMED In AP video of the airstrike on the maternity hospital, thunderous bangs were followed by the sounds of glass breaking and car alarms going off as smoke rose from beyond a nearby building. Outside of Mariupol Hospital No. 3, a woman holding a small child cried uncontrollably while a Ukrainian soldier bandaged another woman s head.Rescue workers evacuated the injured down a staircase, including a pregnant woman. nbsp;Her face was pale and she grabbed her belly before she was loaded into an ambulance. There was a massive crater on the hospital grounds and debris everywhere.British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Twitter that Russian President Vladimir Putin will be held to account for his terrible crimes.
There are few things more depraved than targeting the vulnerable and defenseless, Johnson tweeted.Pavlo Kirilenko, a regional government official, said 17 people were wounded.Zelenskyy said the strike trapped children and others under the rubble.Workers in Mariupol on Wednesday continued hastily and unceremoniously burying scores of dead civilians and soldiers in a mass grave dug in a cemetery in the heart of the city.With morgues overflowing and corpses uncollected in homes, city officials decided they couldn t wait to hold individual burials. Forty bodies were placed in the grave Tuesday and at least 30 more were put there Wednesday, though the number was rising so quickly that the total became unclear.Some were brought wrapped in carpets or plastic bags. Workers quickly made the sign of the cross after pushing the bodies into the common grave. No family members or other mourners were there to say goodbye.Civilians from towns northwest of the capital made their way toward Kyiv on Wednesday through a humanitarian corridor, with firefighters and police helping people carry their animals and belongings across a damaged bridge.WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING ON THE GROUND Russian aircraft bombed Zhytomyr, a city of 260,000 west of Kyiv, hitting two hospitals, including a children s hospital, Mayor Serhii Sukhomlyn said on Facebook.
nbsp;He said the number of casualties was still being determined. A children s hospital. A maternity hospital. How did they threaten the Russian Federation Zelenskyy asked in his nightly video address.Artillery fire continued pounding the suburbs of Kyiv and Kharkiv, the country s second largest city, on Wednesday. A police headquarters was destroyed in Kharkiv, killing at least four people and wounding 15 others, prosecutors office representative Serhii Bolvinov said on Facebook. He said 282 city residents, including six children, have been killed since the invasion began.After darkness fell, Russian artillery again began shelling Kyiv suburbs.The World Health Organization said Wednesday it has confirmed 18 attacks on health facilities and ambulances in Ukraine in which 10 people were killed.
