An attack on a children’s hospital in Mykolaiv, southern Ukraine, has left two children in critical condition with two adults killed and a further seven adults injured, Save the Children said.

One of the injured children, a 15-year-old-girl, was in surgery to have shrapnel removed from her shoulder when the operating theatre was hit. She is now in critical condition in intensive care after sustaining further injuries in the attack on Tuesday. The girl had fled her home in Eastern Ukraine, looking for safety.

A 9-year-old girl was directly hit in the attack and required emergency surgery.

Save the Children Ukraine Country Director Pete Walsh, speaking from the attacked hospital, says:

"Walking around the hospital grounds we saw the blood on the floor outside the emergency department, the blown-out windows and the shrapnel lying around from yesterday’s attack. We also saw the preparedness that the hospital team have taken, with sandbags covering the generators and some of the doorways.

"This is a horrific situation. A child being attacked again while receiving treatment for an injury caused by war is unbearable. The impact on civilians is reaching terrifying proportions and civilian infrastructure like hospitals must be protected at all times."

In New Zealand, Save the Children has raised more than $1.2 million for children impacted by the war in Ukraine.

Save the Children New Zealand Chief Executive Heidi Coetzee says the daily horrors children are experiencing will not stop until the war ends.

"It’s unfathomable that a place people seek for help has become one of absolute and utter destruction. Where can families and children turn to if even hospitals are not safe? They must not become the battlefields where conflicts rage and innocent children are the casualties."

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