2 h. ago ‘Russia is targeting us deliberately’: how attacks on maternity hospitals fuelled a birth crisis in Ukraine

Women have been left fearful of childbirth after more than 80 attacks on maternity units since the invasion, leading to the world’s lowest birth rate and the highest mortality rateIt was one of the most horrifying targets of Russia’s war on Ukraine so far. Reports showed a pregnant woman on a stretcher, her face ashen with shock, legs smeared with blood and a hand holding her bump. Behind her, the bombed-out ruins of Mariupol’s maternity hospital. More than a dozen people, including women in labour, were injured in the attack in March 2022. The woman photographed, Iryna Kalinina, later died along with her unborn baby.In the three years since then, maternity care in Ukraine has remained under constant attack, with more than 2,000 strikes on medical facilities, including 81 affecting maternal care and delivery rooms. Just last month, Diana Koshyk, seven months pregnant, was killed when a missile struck a maternity hospital in the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region. Continue reading...

Events

2 h. ago ‘Russia is targeting us deliberately’: how attacks on maternity hospitals fuelled a birth

Women have been left fearful of childbirth after more than 80 attacks on maternity units since the invasion, leading to the world’s lowest birth rate and the highest mortality rateIt was one of the most horrifying targets of Russia’s war on Ukraine so far. Reports showed a pregnant woman on a stretcher, her face ashen with shock, legs smeared with blood and a hand holding her bump. Behind her, the bombed-out ruins of Mariupol’s maternity hospital. More than a dozen people, including women in labour, were injured in the attack in March 2022. The woman photographed, Iryna Kalinina, later died along with her unborn baby.In the three years since then, maternity care in Ukraine has remained under constant attack, with more than 2,000 strikes on medical facilities, including 81 affecting maternal care and delivery rooms. Just last month, Diana Koshyk, seven months pregnant, was killed when a missile struck a maternity hospital in the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region. Continue reading...

Events

33 h. ago Donald Trump is becoming the greatest unifier of Europe since the end of the cold war | Fabrizio Tassinari

The US president may be helping Putin to destroy the west, but his vanity is causing Europeans to speak with one voice on UkraineSeven is a biblical number, a number dear to ancient Rome, and the number of Cristiano Ronaldo’s lucky jersey. Perhaps it is also now going to be the answer to Henry Kissinger’s (probably apocryphal) question: what number do I call when I want to talk to Europe? Maybe the answer is seven, like the number of leaders sitting at the table in Washington on Monday alongside Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy.It’s difficult to say at this stage whether anything good will come from the impromptu White House summit, but European leaders showing up as a group in support of Ukraine was a first. This seven-member format – Nato, the European Commission, France, Germany, the UK, Italy and Finland – truly spoke with one voice. They did so on a crisis, Ukraine, over which they have sometimes been bitterly divided throughout the past three and a half years (remember Emm...

Politics

4 d. ago Trump rows back threat of ‘secondary tariffs’ against India and China after Putin summit

US president had promised to increase economic pressure on Russia by targeting buyers of its crude oil

Politics

8 d. ago Terror in Moscow as NUCLEAR BOMB alerts are played on public transport, sending passengers fleeing for their lives after hackers target warning system

Bus passengers in Moscow were ordered to rush to bomb shelters after nuclear bomb alerts were played out on the city's public transport after hackers targeted Russia's warning systems.

Events

2 w. ago ‘Healthocide’: experts warn of rise in targeting of health services in conflict

Principle of medical neutrality threatened as doctors and hospitals deliberately attacked, particularly in GazaTargeting medics and hospitals in acts of war should be called “healthocide”, academics have urged, amid an increase in such attacks in recent years.Health services are increasingly deliberately under attack and medics are facing violence and abuse in conflict zones around the world – in particular in Gaza, but also in Lebanon, Ukraine, Sudan, Syria and El Salvador. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Ukraine welcomes Trump’s nuclear sub move, saying it has ‘silenced’ Medvedev – Europe live

Senior Zelenskyy aide says ‘Russia only understands one thing: strength’President Zelenskyy also called for more pressure on Russia, as he posted a video of drone strikes on what he said were first responders and medics arriving to help after attacks.“Deliberate FPV [first person view] drone strikes on first responders and medics arriving to help after attacks – all of this is typical for every city or community within reach of Russian drones. The Russian army simply kills everything that is alive,” he warned.“We count on strong decisions from the United States, Europe, and the world regarding secondary sanctions on Russian energy trade and Moscow’s banking sector.Ukraine looks forward to the implementation of every agreement on strengthening defense that has been reached with its partners. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Moment Russia bombs key Ukrainian bridge in Kherson after mass drone strike hit tourist resort Sochi

The attacks are the latest trading of blows between Russia and Ukraine as each nation looks to focus on targeting the other's infrastructure.

Events