Videos show what happened in a Ukrainian children’s hospital and Russia is ‘gaslighting’, war and weapons experts say

• A rocket hit a children’s hospital. Ukraine says it was a Russian attack, but Moscow denies it.

• War experts dispute the Russian claim that it was a Ukrainian surface-to-air missile. According to them, it was a Russian cruise missile.

• Visual evidence and expert analysis contradict Russian accounts of the attack, which killed at least 31 people.

War and weapons experts dispute claims by Russia’s Defense Ministry that it did not attack a children’s hospital in Kiev on Monday, a move that has sparked outrage in Ukraine and internationally.

The Security Service of Ukraine identified the missile that hit the medical facility as a Russian Kh-101 air-launched cruise missile. The hospital was hit amid a large barrage of fire.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in response to the attack that “we must hold Russia accountable for its terrorist acts and Putin for ordering the attacks.”

The Kremlin was quick to claim that it was not to blame. “Statements by representatives of the Kiev regime about an alleged deliberate missile attack by Russia on civilian targets are absolutely false,” the Moscow Defense Ministry posted in a statement. statement to Telegram after the images came out.

The Russian Defense Ministry reported that photos and videos of the attack show that a fallen Ukrainian surface-to-air missile fired from an anti-aircraft missile system caused the destruction at the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital.

War analysts took to social media to debunk the Russian claims, citing available visual evidence.

“MOD is gaslighting,” says Dara Massicot, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said in a message on X with an accompanying video of the attack from United24 Media. “No, it wasn’t the ‘Ukrainian air defense’ that caused a children’s hospital to be attacked.”

Massicot added that other Russian missiles had hit a nearby military facility. The Russian strike hit targets spread across Kiev and several cities.

Analysts determined that the weapon was not a surface-to-air missile, nor was it a damaged Russian missile that had drifted off course. There was no visible damage to the Russian missile or any indication of distress.

Fabian Hoffman, a PhD candidate at the Oslo Nuclear Project, concluded from the photos and videos of the attack that the missile was intact, the exhaust was normal, and the weapon was fired at a steep angle.

“The flight appears to be completely controlled,” he said on X.

He also disputed claims that it was a Ukrainian surface-to-air missile, saying the visible turbofan engine, long mid-section wings and blunt nose all suggested it was a cruise missile rather than an interceptor.

The Kremlin has repeatedly claimed that it does not intentionally attack civilian infrastructure; however, the Associated Press has reported many cases in which Russia attacked civilian-occupied areas.

Ukraine says at least 36 people killed in the rocket attack that hit the children’s hospital.

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