At Ukraine’s Largest Children’s Hospital, a Horrific Scene of Destruction

Daryna Vertetska was sitting with her 8-year-old daughter in Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital on Monday morning when Russian missiles began to ring out in the sky.

Her daughter, Kira, was receiving treatment for her cancer as the explosions boomed across the capital, Kyiv.

“We decided not to interrupt it,” Ms. Vertetska said of the treatment.

As Kira continued her treatment, a missile slammed directly into the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital, triggering an explosion so loud it defied description, she said. Shards of flying glass cut into the child’s skin.

“She was very frightened,” said Ms. Vertetska, 33. Bloodied but alive, the pair scrambled through the smoke and dust to safety.

Now, the hospital where Kira had spent five months receiving lifesaving treatment is gone, another medical facility destroyed by Russia in its yearslong invasion of Ukraine.

As exhausted rescue workers finished sifting through the rubble of the hospital on Tuesday, doctors and nurses raced to help the scores of critically ill children who now must find care elsewhere, including many undergoing intensive cancer treatments like Kira.