Russian Airstrike Death Toll Rises to 37, UN Security Council to Meet Today

JAKARTA - The United Nations Security Council will meet on Tuesday after Russian airstrikes on Ukraine killed dozens of people on Monday, including a children's hospital in Kyiv.

The hospital was among the buildings hit by missiles on Monday afternoon, as Russia launched attacks on Ukrainian cities that killed 37 people, the deadliest wave of airstrikes in months.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the Russian attacks, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

Guterres called the attacks on children's hospitals and other medical facilities "deeply shocking," Dujarric said.

"Directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects is prohibited by international humanitarian law, and such attacks are unacceptable and must end immediately," he said, according to Reuters on July 9.

The Security Council meeting scheduled for Tuesday morning was requested by Britain, France, Ecuador, Slovenia, and the United States.

"We will condemn Russia's cowardly and despicable attack on the hospital," Britain's UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward said in a Twitter post.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a Twitter post that Russia's brutal missile attack killed 37 people, three of them children, and injured 170 others, 13 of them children. A Russian missile hit Ukraine's largest children's hospital, he said.

"In total, almost 100 facilities were damaged, including a children's hospital, ordinary homes, kindergartens, maternity hospitals, colleges and business centers. Debris is still being cleared at these sites," President Zelensky tweeted.

"Russian terrorists must be held accountable for this. Concern alone will not stop terror. Condolence is not a weapon. We must shoot down Russian missiles. Russian warplanes must be destroyed wherever they are. Strong measures must be taken to eliminate the security deficit," he added.

Separately, the Russian Defense Ministry said its forces attacked defense industry targets and an aviation base.

"The allegations made by Kyiv officials about a deliberate Russian missile attack on civilian targets are completely untrue," the ministry said, citing TASS.

"A number of published photo and video reports from Kyiv make it clear that the damage was caused by a downed Ukrainian air defense missile launched from a missile system deployed within the city limits," the statement said.

According to the ministry, the Russian Armed Forces carried out high-precision strikes on Ukrainian defense industry sites and air bases, in response to Kyiv's attempts to attack energy facilities inside Russia. All designated targets are hit.