8 July 2024

Today, on 8 July 2024, the russian federation committed one of the bloodiest war crimes during its illegal, unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine. The missile attack targeted peaceful Ukrainian cities, where russian missiles hit residential buildings, medical facilities and civilian infrastructure. Search and rescue operations are currently underway. There are people under the rubble, including children. There are casualties.

russia struck many cities in Ukraine: Kyiv, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, and cities in Donetsk region. As of now, there are 27 killed and over 100 injured, including 17 killed and 41 injured in Kyiv.

The deliberate missile attack by the russia on the largest and oldest children's hospital in Ukraine – the National Children's Specialised Hospital "Okhmatdyt", where thousands of children are treated, was unprecedented in its cruelty and cynicism. This heinous crime against the least protected and the most vulnerable – the sick children – is beyond explanation.

This latest attack on a medical facility repeats the genocidal practices of the russians and that is a war of aggression against Ukraine aimed at the killing of civilians, the murder of Ukrainian children, and the systematic destruction of maternity hospitals, children's hospitals, gerontological and cancer centres, psychiatric institutions, and medical facilities throughout Ukraine. Since the beginning of the large-scale armed invasion of the russian federation, 214 medical infrastructure facilities have been destroyed beyond repair, and 1630 facilities have been damaged.

The russian missile strikes on Ukraine's largest children's hospital, the National Children's Specialised Hospital "Okhmatdyt", requires a strong response from the United Nations Security Council. However, the UN Security Council is currently chaired by a terrorist state – the russian federation, which, contrary to the UN Charter, has acquired the status of a member of the UN and the status of a permanent member of its Security Council. All this points to the systemic degradation of the system of international organizations and makes searching for new effective security mechanisms necessary.

Today, on the eve of the NATO Summit in Washington, we consider this criminal attack by the russian federation as a cynical signal to the Alliance, dictated by the russians' confidence in their complete impunity. This terrorist attack requires a special response from the Allies, and further delay in effective measures to counter russia's aggression will only encourage the aggressor to scale up its crimes and continuation genocidal practices.

We, the leadership of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and parliamentary factions and groups of the Ukrainian parliament, emphasise that in violation of all existing norms of international humanitarian law, the aggressor state – the russian federation – is committing war crimes against civilians, crimes against humanity and the crime of genocide against the Ukrainian people, destroying civilian and medical infrastructure in Ukraine and denying the right of Ukrainians to life.

With today's attack, russia has shown that it seeks neither peace nor negotiations and has no intention of abandoning its aggressive goal of destroying Ukraine. This means that the world must show determination and stop the terrorist state. We call for all necessary weapons to be provided to Ukraine and for restrictions on their use to be lifted so that our country can defend itself against russian terror. Air defense systems, primarily Patriot and SAMP/T, and their accompanying missiles, long-range weapons, artillery systems and shells, unmanned aerial vehicles, and electronic warfare systems in sufficient quantities are what can help Ukraine defend its lives.

We call on the governments and parliaments of foreign countries, universal and regional international organisations and their parliamentary institutions to immediately respond to the barbaric attack by the russian federation and to recognise it as an act of terrorism.

We call on the international community to take all possible measures to investigate this and other crimes and to bring to justice and fairly punish all those responsible for their commission within national and international jurisdictions.

We reiterate that the declared commitment to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter requires that member states exert the most strong political and sanctions pressure on the russian federation and its officials, including its highest ranking officials, to end its armed aggression against Ukraine and restore a world order based on respect for norms of international law and UN Charter.

We call on NATO members states to increase military and technical assistance to Ukraine, to close Ukrainian sky and to decide on the possibility of shooting down russian missiles over Ukraine by means of NATO countries.

We express our sincere condolences to the families of the Ukrainians injured and killed in the russian terrorist attack.

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine will remain steadfast in its commitment to the defence of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity and will continue to make every effort to protect our citizens and ensure peace on our land.

The statement was signed by:

Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine – Ruslan Stefanchuk;

First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine – Oleksandr Korniienko;

Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine  – Olena Kondratiuk;

Chairman of the parliamentary faction of the political party "Servant of the People " – David Arakhamia;

First Deputy Chairman of the "Servant of the People" political party faction – Andrii Motovylovets;

Co-Chairman of the parliamentary faction of the European Solidarity political party – Artur Herasymov;

Co-chair of the parliamentary faction of the European Solidarity political party – Iryna Gerashchenko;

Head of the deputy group "Platform for Life and Peace" – Yurii Boiko;

Head of the parliamentary faction of the All-Ukrainian Union "Batkivshchyna" political party in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the ninth convocation – Yuliia Tymoshenko;

Chairman of the "Party for the Future" parliamentary group – Taras Batenko;

Chairperson of the parliamentary faction of the HOLOS political party in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the ninth convocation – Oleksandra Ustinova;

Co-chair of the parliamentary group "Restoration of Ukraine" – Antonina Slavytska;

Chairman of the "Dovira" parliamentary group – Oleh Kulinich.