A Tale of Two Horses; New York Sun Correspondent Recalls Kyiv’s Destroyed Children’s Hospital

Who looks better with the horse? President Putin in his stable, a few hours after his cruise missile destroyed Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital, Okhmatdyt? Or my son, George, pausing from leading Mopsy the pony on Wednesday?Thanks to midnight surgery at Okhmatdyt after an accidental fall three years ago in Kyiv, George now has full use of both arms and what was a broken elbow. In the days after the three hours of surgery, I would roll George, then 5 years old, through the well-tended gardens of Okhmatdyt. In Kyiv’s summer heat, we sought out fresh air, sunshine, and flowers — a respite from erratic air conditioning in a state-run hospital.The author’s son George with Mopsy. Via James BrookeThis week, I studied the photos from wreckage created by Monday’s direct hit by a Russian Kinhzal — Dagger — missile. Near the flower beds, where parents used to go for cigarette breaks, bewildered children stood with their mothers. Their bald heads and portable drips meant they were cancer patients. Mothers sat on plastic chairs with their toddlers, patiently awaiting evacuation.The missile apparently was programmed with the hospital’s coordinates. It hit mid-morning Monday, a time when 627 children were being treated. Thanks to air raid sirens and mass scrambles to shelters, the death toll seems to be only four children and two adults. Dozens of children were wounded.The aftermath of a Russian missile strike on Kyiv, Ukraine, July 8, 2024. AP/Efrem LukatskySvitlana Lukyanchuk, a 30-year-old pediatric nephrologist, was killed by the blast after she shepherded children before her into an underground shelter. Recently married, Dr. Lukyanchuk was buried Wednesday in her native Lviv.Of the children of Okhmatdyt, Ukraine’s Health Ministry says nearly 100 children were evacuated to other hospitals in Kyiv, 68 children remain in surviving buildings of Okhmatdyt for treatment; and about 450 were sent home. Some await transfer abroad.A 30-year-old pediatric nephrologist killed in the attack on a children’s hospital at Kyiv, Svitlana Lukyanchuk. Via Telegram Channel of Lviv’s mayor, Andriy SadovyiMeanwhile, in Moscow, almost 500 miles to the north, President Putin was celebrating Russia’s annual July 8 holiday, known as “Family, Love, and Fidelity Day.” Mr. Putin explained that “for us, for the state, there can be nothing more important than strengthening the family,” surrounded, Stalin-style, by smiling Russian children.A few hours later, Russia’s president welcomed India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, for a rare visit to Moscow by a foreign head of state. The destruction of the Ukrainian children’s hospital took place while Mr. Modi was midair, in Air India One, the government Boeing that carried him from New Delhi to Moscow.President Putin during a trip in Siberia’s Tuva region, August 15, 2007. AP/RIA-Novosti, Dmitry Astakhov, Presidential Press ServiceEnsnared in an image trap, the Indian leader went ahead with the visit. As the world press filled with images from the bombed out hospital, Mr. Putin offered a softer image — a photo op of the two leaders touring the presidential stables.The goal of the Indian leader’s visit to Moscow was to slow a growing alliance between Russia and China. However, at the farewell press conference, he did muster the courage to say in Hindi: “When innocent children are killed, the heart bleeds, and that pain is very terrifying.”

A Tale of Two Horses; New York Sun Correspondent Recalls Kyiv’s Destroyed Children’s Hospital

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