THE Ukrainian President has urged the West to impose a no-fly zone over the country despite fears the move could spark World War 3.
Volodymyr Zelensky’s demand comes after a Russian airstrike on a maternity ward in the besieged city of Mariupol that left at least seventeen people injured.
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Zelensky branded the attack an “atrocity” and pleaded again for a no-fly zone to protect his country.
Sharing harrowing footage of the scene inside the hospital, he said: “Direct strike of Russian troops at the maternity hospital. People, children are under the wreckage. Atrocity!
“How much longer will the world be an accomplice ignoring terror? Close the sky right now! Stop the killings! You have power but you seem to be losing humanity.”
Zelensky has repeatedly urged the US and Nato to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
But Nato members warned a no-fly zone could lead to direct clashes between Russian and Nato forces.
The airstrike at the maternity hospital was carried out during an agreed ceasefire period that was meant to allow the evacuation of civilians from the besieged southern city, said regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko.
He said on a Facebook post: “So far there are 17 wounded personnel of the hospital” adding that “so far no kids were wounded” and there have been “no deaths”.
Horror footage showed the charred remains of the hospital with wounded staff and patients being rushed out of the building into a devastating scene of burning cars and smouldering rubble.
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The video showed holes where windows should have been in what appeared to be a badly damaged three-storey building at the hospital.
Previous attempts to allow civilians to evacuate safely failed, with harrowing images showing people running for shelter.
The city council accused brutal Russian forces of “dropping several bombs” on the hospital with footage showing a huge crater outside one of the buildings.
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Mariupol city council said: “The Russian occupying forces have dropped several bombs on the children’s hospital. The destruction is colossal.”
Boris Johnson slammed the “depraved” airstrike in Mariupol which targeted “vulnerable and defenceless” mums and babies.
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The PM said: “There are few things more depraved than targeting the vulnerable and defenceless.
“The UK is exploring more support for Ukraine to defend against airstrikes and we will hold Putin to account for his terrible crimes.”
Ukrainian MP Dmytro Gurin claimed “many” women had been killed or wounded in the Russian bombardment.
The deputy head of Mr Zelenskyy’s office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said authorities are still trying to establish the number of casualties.
Days of shelling in Mariupol have cut residents off from the outside world and forced them to scavenge for food and water.
Mariupol’s deputy mayor said 1,170 civilians have been killed in the city since the start of the Russian invasion.
Serhiy Orlov was quoted as saying: “At least 1,170 people have been killed and 47 were buried in a mass grave today.
“People are without water, heat, electricity, gas, residents are melting snow to drink.”
It comes as…
Yesterday, a girl, eight, died of dehydration after Russian attacks left her without access to water, power, or heating.
And a Red Cross aid mission was allegedly hit by a Russian bomb in the city, amid reports victims of shelling are being buried in mass graves.
Two bombs were dropped in the attack on the International and the Ukrainian Committees of the Red Cross, according to unverified reports.
The Red Cross described conditions inside the city “apocalyptic”, with residents sheltering underground from relentless bombardment.
Despite Russian and Ukrainian officials agreeing to establish “humanitarian corridors” to allow civilians out of some cities, Russia has been accused of shelling evacuation routes.
The Ukrainian defence ministry said Russian forces “launched an attack right at the humanitarian corridor” and “did not let children, women and elderly people leave the city”.
Earlier Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Russia had broken the ceasefire around the southern port – which lies between Russian-backed separatist areas of eastern Ukraine and Crimea.
He said: “Russia continues holding hostage over 400,000 people in Mariupol, blocks humanitarian aid and evacuation. Indiscriminate shelling continues.
“Almost 3,000 newborn babies lack medicine and food.”
Thousands of people are thought to have been killed in Ukraine – both civilians and soldiers – in two weeks of fighting since Putin’s forces stormed the country.
The UN said more than two million people have now fled the country – the biggest exodus of refugees in Europe since the end of World War Two.
Authorities announced a new ceasefire today to allow civilians to escape from towns around Kyiv, as well as Mariupol, Enerhodar, Volnovakha, Izyum and Sumy.
Ukraine has blamed Russia for violating ceasefire agreements, although the Russian military denies firing on civilian convoys.
US defence officials estimate that Russia has fired more than 600 missiles from inside or at Ukraine since February 24.
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It comes as Russia’s stranded troops are facing freezing to death in their tanks as Putin’s military becomes bogged down in the mud and an unwinnable war in Ukraine.
A 40-mile long convoy of tanks and armoured vehicles remains trapped outside Kyiv – more than a week after launching their assault on the Ukrainian capital.
As a sudden cold snap sends temperatures in Eastern Europe plunging to -10C overnight – or -20C including windchill – Russian troops are trapped in what one ex-soldier called “40-ton iron freezers”.
Icy conditions are also set to make life even harder for Putin‘s invaders, who have been stuck around 20 miles from Kyiv for days amid mechanical problems, fuel supply issues, and solid Ukrainian resistance.
Aerial satellite images taken on Wednesday morning show the traffic jam of Russian military vehicle close to Antonov Airport, just a few miles northwest of the outskirts of Kyiv.
Former British Army Major Kevin Price told the Mail Online that Russia’s tanks will become nothing more than “40-ton freezers” as temperatures plummet, and said that the bitter conditions will further dampen the morale of the Russian military.
Already, reports are coming in of demoralised Russian troops complaining about the war in intercepted phone calls to comrades and loved ones.
In the calls, Putin’s troops claim the war could drag on for “months” and say they are being “massacred” in Ukraine.
Russian soldiers are reportedly “deserting their posts” after “large-scale losses”, including the deaths of top generals.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said that Russian troops are having “morale problems”.
He said: “They are having supply problems. They are having fuel problems. They’re having food problems.
“They are meeting a very stiff and determined Ukrainian resistance. And we still maintain that they are several days behind what they probably thought they were going to be in terms of their progress.”
Today, President Zelenskyy warned the international community would be responsible for a mass “humanitarian catastrophe” if it doesn’t agree to a no-fly zone.
He also warned the country is at maximum threat level.
“Russia uses missiles, aircraft and helicopters against us, against civilians, against our cities, against our infrastructure. It is the humanitarian duty of the world to respond,” he said in his daily televised address.
He said Ukraine has shown in the past two weeks that they will never give in.
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