Politicians, Media React to Video of Bombed Maternity Hospital in Ukraine

A video that purports to show a bombed maternity hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine has gone viral and caused global upset.

The video was posted to Twitter on Wednesday morning by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who called the bombing an "atrocity." So far, it has amassed nearly 2 million views and over 80,000 likes.

"Direct strike of Russian troops at the maternity hospital. People, children are under the wreckage. Atrocity!" tweeted Zelensky. "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."

In the video, someone walks through the maternity hospital's various rooms and corridors to show viewers the aftermath of the purported bombing. Many of the hospital's walls are destroyed and the floors are covered in glass from the windows, which appear to have been blown out. Outside, the trees are barren and the ground is covered in rubble.

Roman Hryshchuk, a member of Ukraine's parliament, also tweeted footage on Wednesday that allegedly showed the hospital's exterior following the attack.

"Ten minutes ago, Russian invaders launched an airstrike on a maternity hospital in Mariupol," he tweeted. "Russians are bombing hospitals, houses, churches. Just send us jets to stop this madness! Give us AA weapons!"

Hryshchuk also ended his tweet with a call to close the skies over Ukraine.

Neither video has been independently verified by Newsweek.

Many have taken the news as an opportunity to criticize Russian President Vladimir Putin and condemn the full-scale invasion that began on February 24.

"There are few things more depraved than targeting the vulnerable and defenseless," tweeted U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson in response to reports of the hospital bombing. "The U.K. is exploring more support for Ukraine to defend against airstrikes and we will hold Putin to account for his terrible crimes."

Dan Peleschuk, an editor for the Atlantic Council, tweeted: "We've known for years that Putin is a monster. But whoever pushed the button has a mother—maybe even a sister, or a wife and children. That's its own kind of evil."

Journalist and TV personality Piers Morgan added: "This is so f**king disgusting. Putin's a genocidal monster deliberately slaughtering women & babies. At what point do we stop watching him commit these sickening war crimes and do something to stop him? Our cowardly inaction is shameful & pathetic."

Artist Barbara Marmet wrote, "Who destroys a maternity hospital with mothers and newborns in it? Only a savage barbarian named Putin."

Meanwhile, Scottish lawmaker Stewart McDonald said: "This war crime should haunt everyone who planned and executed it. This is the reality of Russia's war against Ukraine—against innocent Ukrainian children. Tell of this war crime far and wide. It should follow every Putin apologist and useful idiot everywhere they go."

The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has said that 516 civilians in Ukraine were killed and 908 were injured between February 24 and March 8, Newsweek reported.

"Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multi-launch rocket systems, and missile and airstrikes," OHCHR said.

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