CCTV footage has captured the moment an ambulance believed to be donated by the UK is hit by a Russian missile outside a children’s hospital.
The footage, taken in the Ukrainian city of Mykolayiv, showed the vehicle burst into flames before being engulfed by smoke.
Mykolayiv governor Vitaly Kim shared the footage on Tuesday and joked the Russians were in fact aiming at “super-modern robots” placed in the gardens of the hospital.
Anna Zamazeeva, the head of the Mykolayiv Regional Council, said the images showed “yesterday’s attack on a secret medical facility - an ambulance substation”.
She added: “The Russian occupiers yesterday again ‘chaotically’ fired rockets at Mykolaiv and Ochakov. But for some reason, most of the rockets flew to the area of hospitals, schools, nursery schools and residential areas...
“Unfortunately, yesterday, two children were injured from these shellings - a seven-year-old child in Ochakov and a fourteen-year-old child in Mykolaiv.
“Another child, unfortunately, died during the evening shelling. Sincere condolences to family and friends! We will never forgive the ‘Russian world’ for the suffering and death of our children! You will answer for everything!”
Russian troops began shelling the southern port city on February 26.
It is seen as a strategic asset by the Kremlin due to its proximity to Odesa.
The ambulance in the footage appeared to be a decommissioned NHS vehicle, with several already donated by the South Central Ambulance Service in England.
Russian shelling in Mykolayiv on Monday killed 10 people, including a child, and injured 46 others, regional administration head Oleksandr Senkevich said.
Meanwhile, British defence officials said that 160,000 people remain trapped by Russian air strikes and heavy fighting in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol.
The Ministry of Defense intelligence update said the city has "no light, communication, medicine, heat or water." It accused Russian forces of deliberately preventing humanitarian access, "likely to pressure defenders to surrender."
