They bombed a maternity hospital. Three people died, including a six-year-old. Among the injured were pregnant women and doctors. It wasn’t even a one-off. The World Health Organisation said it has confirmed 18 attacks on medical facilities since the Russian invasion began two weeks ago.
“We’ll pray we can get people out of Mariupol,” said Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky of the city which has been under siege for nine days and is home to nearly half a million people, many struggling to find food, with no electricity or running water.
They’re digging mass graves, by the way. More than 1,200 civilians are feared to have been killed in Mariupol, with hundreds if not thousands more dead in other towns and cities.
Zelensky described the attack on Mariupol as an “atrocity”. He reiterated his call to Western nations to impose a no-fly zone in the skies over Ukraine, or his country could “lose millions of people”.
He won’t get it. As we set out in today’s leader column, closing the skies over Ukraine would represent a dramatic escalation by Nato, potentially requiring not only the shooting down of Russian jets but also hitting targets in Russia and Belarus. But let us not look away from the consequences.
The big news in London is the sanctions placed on Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich. As our Deputy Political Editor David Bond reports, Downing Street has indicated a new licence could be granted to the club by the Treasury to facilitate its sale.
Chelsea will still be able to play fixtures and pay staff, but trading in players appears to be off the table. Season ticket holders can still attend games but the club cannot now sell any more tickets for games.
Elsewhere in the paper, toxic air pollution, rising fuel costs and Ulez expansion. As the cost of owning a car skyrockets, reformed boy racer Simon Mills ditches his beloved BMW for an e-scooter (with surprising results)
In the comment pages, the comedian Dom Jolly, who grew up in a war zone, says he knows that Ukraine’s children may never heal. Katie Strick says if you want to help women feel safer, start with cycling. While Jamies Heywood reveals why Uber is plugging £5m into 700 new electric charge points across London.
And finally, as Dua Lipa turns to acting, a brief history of musicians becoming actors, some more successfully than others...
