The European Parliament has qualified Russia as a “State promoter of terrorism”, in a vote carried out almost nine months to the day after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
This vote was quickly “welcomed” by Volodymyr Zelensky for whom “Russia must be isolated at all levels and held responsible in order to put an end to its long-standing terrorist policy in Ukraine and throughout the world”.
Shortly before, the regional governor of Zaporijjia in southern Ukraine and the Ukrainian emergency services announced the death of a newborn baby killed by a Russian strike on a maternity hospital.
“On the night of November 23, in the city of Vilnyansk in the Zaporizhia region, a two-story building housing a maternity hospital was destroyed by a missile attack,” the state emergency service said on Telegram. ‘emergency.
Following this attack, a baby “born two days ago” died, the emergency service told AFP, stressing that his mother and the doctor, also present, could “be saved from the rubble”.
“The enemy has once again decided to try to accomplish by terror and murder what it could not accomplish in nine months” of its invasion of Ukraine, Mr. Zelensky castigated on Telegram. “The terrorist state continues to wage war on civilians.”
A total of 39 people were in the maternity ward, but “in another place” at the time of the strike, relief workers told AFP.
The emergency service released a video showing rescuers trying to free a man half trapped under debris. According to the first information available, no one was trapped under the rubble, he said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday it had recorded more than 700 attacks on Ukrainian health facilities since the start of the Russian invasion in February, which it said constitutes a “clear violation” of international humanitarian law. .
– Exchange of prisoners –
The small town of Vilniansk is 45 km from the front line, in the north of the Zaporijjia region, the major part of which in the south is occupied by Russian troops while Moscow announced the annexation of this territory at the end of September.
On November 17, a Russian strike had already destroyed a building there, killing ten people, including three children.
In the Kharkiv region (northeast), another Russian bombardment on Wednesday morning killed two people, a 55-year-old woman and a 68-year-old man, regional governor Oleg Synegoubov said on Telegram.
One person was hospitalized, another received first aid on the spot, the governor said, according to which the bombardment hit a residential building and a hospital.
Despite still violent fighting, particularly in the East, Moscow and kyiv continue to exchange prisoners of war.
“Another exchange took place today with kyiv according to the formula 35 for 35,” said Wednesday a senior leader of the Russian occupation authority, Denis Pushilin.
Following multiple searches in Ukrainian monasteries suspected of links with Moscow, including the most important in kyiv, the security services (SBU) said on Wednesday that they had seized cash and “pro-Russian literature”.
In total, “more than 350 religious buildings and 850 people were thoroughly checked”, of which “more than 50” “underwent in-depth counterintelligence interviews”, the SBU said in a statement on Wednesday.
For its part, London announced that a first Sea King helicopter had been sent to Ukraine and plans to provide two more.
British Defense Minister Ben Wallace, traveling to Norway to discuss military support for Ukraine with his allies, also said London would send 10,000 additional artillery munitions to kyiv.