UN Security Council to meet over attack on Kyiv children's hospital

The United Nations Security Council will meet on Tuesday over a Russian attack on Ukraine that struck Kyiv's main children's hospital, said diplomats.

The hospital was hit by a missile on Monday and missiles rained down on other cities across Ukraine, killing at least 36 people in the deadliest wave of air strikes for months.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the Russian strikes, his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said. Guterres found the attack on the children's hospital and another medical facility "particularly shocking," Dujarric added.

"Directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects is prohibited by international humanitarian law, and any such attacks are unacceptable and must end immediately," he said.

The Security Council meeting scheduled for Tuesday morning was requested by Britain, France, Ecuador, Slovenia and the United States.

"We will call out Russia's cowardly and depraved attack on the hospital," Britain's UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward said in an X post.

The Russian defence ministry said its forces attacked defence industry targets and aviation bases. It has denied targeting civilians.