Оn July 8, 2024, Russia launched a large-scale bombardment of more than 40 missiles targeting 14 cities across Ukraine. Ukraine's largest children’s hospital which carries out cancer treatment and organ transplants called Okhmadyt in Kyiv was heavily impacted by the Russian missile strike. According to Her Excellency Natalka Cmoc, Canada's Ambassador to Ukraine, who visited the site, there are currently 33 confirmed deaths and 167 people injured. The State Emergency Services are still actively clearing debris and cutting concrete at the dialysis centre, which was completely destroyed. The first responders are working in three-hour shifts and won’t stop until they are assured that no one is stuck in the debris. There are over 600 rescue workers just at this site in Kyiv searching for casualties. Unfortunately, Kyiv is not the only city impacted, other locations including Dnipro, Kramatorsk, Slovyansk, Pokrovsk, and Kryvyi Rih have also reported explosions.
The League of Ukrainian Canadians condemns every attack on Ukraine, yet today's missile strike on critical infrastructure targeting ill children is simply unbearable. Two years after the full-scale invasion, Ukrainian airspace remains unprotected from Russian attacks and so do the civilians living below. In January 2023, Canada announced a plan to donate a $406-million surface-to-air missile defence system, but there's still no delivery date. Ukraine is in urgent need, it is an issue of life and death, an issue of survival of the most basic infrastructure and the survival of children.
The League of Ukrainian Canadians calls on the Canadian government to send the promised air defence system to Ukraine, or at the very least speed up the delivery of the NASAMS, as the road to peace and recovery starts with a protected sky.
