The war in Ukraine continues on a downward spiral, taking another grim and tragic turn, amid widespread allegations that Russian forces destroyed a children’s hospital in Kiev amid a bigger barrage of missiles which hit several sites on Monday.

UN officials and Ukraine authorities say at least 31 people were killed Monday after some 40 missiles were launched across the country. There are reports that people are still buried under the rubble of Okhmatdyt children’s hospital. Local officials say at least seven have been killed in these specific strikes on the Ukrainian capital.

Okhmatdyt has a children’s cancer ward, and images have been widely circulating of children receiving IV treatments on a nearby sidewalk after the hospital was reduced to ruins. Britain’s Foreign Minister David Lammy blasted the hospital strike as “an appalling attack on Ukrainian civilians.”

Kyiv’s main children’s hospital, via Reuters

France also called it a “barbaric” act, with a statement saying “Deliberately targeting a children’s hospital can be added to the list of war crimes for which Russia will have to account.” And a German foreign ministry statement additionally called out President Putin directly, saying, “This is what Putin’s… willingness to negotiate and desire for peace look like.”

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell posted to X, “Russia keeps ruthlessly targeting Ukrainian civilians … Ukraine needs air defense now. All responsible for Russian war crimes will be held to account.” This comes the same week the major NATO annual summit with heads of alliance states is set to meet in Washington D.C.

At this moment, Hungary’s Viktor Orban is in Beijing, where he met with President Xi Jinping, to talk about ways forward to achieving ceasefire or peaceful settlement in Ukraine. Hungary is calling this “Peace Mission Beijing 3.0”.

But Russia’s Defense Ministry (MoD) is vehemently denying that its missiles struck the hospital, instead saying only “intended” military targets were hit. For example the MoD says it took out three HIMARS missile batteries.

Interestingly, the MoD statements says there were “foreign specialists” that were killed in the strike. “Operational/tactical aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, missile troops and artillery of the Russian groups of forces destroyed three US-made HIMARS multiple rocket launchers and up to 10 foreign specialists responsible for their use and struck massed enemy manpower and military hardware in 122 locations,” it said.

As for the children’s hospital, Moscow is now claiming that the destruction was the result of an errant Ukrainian anti-air defense missile. Below is the Russian narrative of the event via TASS:

“The allegations made by Kiev officials about a deliberate Russian missile strike on civilian targets are absolutely untrue. Numerous photo and video reports from Kiev, which have been made public, make it clear that damage was done by a falling Ukrainian air defense missile launched from a missile system deployed within the city limits.”

Images like the below are now widely circulating of children who were evacuated in the wake of the strike, now receiving treatment on the streets of the capital city…

The Kremlin has further highlighted the timing of the hospital strike, saying that the allegation is ultimately aimed to immediately attract more funding and Western anti-air systems which Zelensky has been desperately pleading for. The Russian military said, “the Kiev regime has been throwing such tantrums for years, each time ahead of a get-together (summit) of its NATO sponsors.”

“The goal of such provocations is to ensure the further inflow of funds for the Kiev regime and a continuation of the war until the last Ukrainian,” the statement added.

Zelensky has responded: “Russian terrorists once again massively attacked Ukraine with missiles. Different cities: Kyiv, Dnipro, Kryvy Rig, Sloviansk, Kramatorsk. More than 40 missiles of various types. Residential buildings, infrastructure and a children’s hospital were damaged,” he said on X.

Amid an ongoing major rescue mission at Okhmatdyt hospital, the casualty count is likely to rise throughout the day as bodies are pulled from the rubble. Once again we are presented with two wildly contrasting accounts at a very pivotal moment. And the timing of it all… NATO will make major decisions at the Washington summit this week, and Hungary’s Orban is shuttling across the globe pleading for the sides to come to the negotiating table.

Zelensky says the US, EU or China but not Hungary could meditate Russo-Ukrainian peace talks.

It must be the first time he mentions China in that context – the only real potential mediator among the three.

And it is China where Orban headed to after Kyiv and Moscow. Not…

— Leonid Ragozin (@leonidragozin) July 8, 2024

Two realities remain amid the ongoing dense ‘fog of war’: 1) errant anti-air defense missiles from Ukraine have caused death and destruction before, and 2) any time Russia unleashes dozens of long-range missiles against Ukrainian cities, the potential that civilian infrastructure – including hospitals – could be struck and destroyed remains a likelihood.

Sadly this puts more distance between those trying to lay the groundwork for truce talks, and those hawks wishing to escalate the war.

The two sides will now in the wake of the tragedy enter an all-too-familiar information war of ‘narratives’. But the broader focus, in an ideal world, would be a big global diplomatic push for peace now.