Russia’s bombing of a maternity and children’s hospital in Mariupol is a “red, red, red line” and NATO must intervene now, Ukraine ’s Ambassador to Britain demanded tonight.
Vadym Prystaiko told BBC Question Time: “I believe there is something not that could be done, but should be done to stop it… What is the red line for NATO to come and help us?
“I believe the bombing for example of the maternity hospital, this is already a very red red red line.”
He also raised Putin’s attacks on fleeing civilians and a nuclear power station, saying: “All of these are very red lines we don’t want him to cross, and the sooner we tell him the better.
“If you ask me who can tell him, I would guess nations who promised to defend us when we gave up nuclear weapons - these people should tell him.
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“The United States, United Kingdom, and later on China and France who all joined the memorandum.”
A Russian air strike badly damaged a children's hospital in the besieged Ukranian port city today, burying patients under rubble and injuring women in labour, Ukraine said.
The bombing, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called an "atrocity," took place despite an agreed ceasefire to enable thousands of civilians trapped in the city to escape.
The city council said the hospital had been hit several times by an air strike, causing "colossal" destruction.
The President tweeted: “Direct strike of Russian troops at the maternity hospital. People, children are under the wreckage.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, asked by Reuters for comment, said: "Russian forces do not fire on civilian targets."
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry posted footage of what it said was the hospital showing blasted-out windows and piles of smouldering rubble.
The Donetsk region's governor said 17 people were wounded, including women in labour.
Boris Johnson tweeted: “There are few things more depraved than targeting the vulnerable and defenceless.
“The UK is exploring more support for Ukraine to defend against airstrikes and we will hold Putin to account for his terrible crimes.”
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told MPs the UK has delivered 3,615 anti-tank weapons to Ukraine, and is looking at supplying anti-aircraft missiles.
But he again resisted calls for NATO jets to enforce a no-fly zone, which could involve shooting down Kremlin planes and sparking a full NATO war with nuclear-armed Russia.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said the West would be responsible for what unfolds if it failed to send fighter planes to patrol the skies above the war-torn nation.
He said: “Russia uses missiles, aircraft and helicopters against us, against civilians, against our cities, against our infrastructure. It is the humanitarian duty of the world to respond.”
But, speaking in the Commons, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace ruled out a no-fly zone, saying it could hamper Ukrainian efforts to deal with Russian artillery and missiles.
Germany said it will not send warplanes to Ukraine, after the US rejected an offer by Poland to transfer its Russian-made MiG-29 jets to Ukraine via a US base in Germany.
The plan was plunged into disarray after the White House vetoed an attempt by Warsaw to hand over a fleet of MiG-29s to the Ukrainian air force amid fears it would draw NATO into a direct conflict.
Western officials have “serious concerns” the Kremlin could go further and unleash devastating chemical weapons after Moscow was seen “setting the scene” for such an attack.
Putin could “flatten Ukraine” despite his war ultimately ending in failure, they also believe.
A Western official said: “We’re seeing some of the disinformation come out of Moscow about non-conventional weapons.
“We saw this in Syria, the Russians starting that talk when they or their proxies were about to use those weapons there.”
Russia-backed Syria was repeatedly accused of using chemical weapons in the country's bloody civil war.
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons found people were exposed to Sarin gas in 2017 in the Khan Shaykhun area but did not identify who was to blame.
But Moscow vetoed a 2017 UN resolution that would have investigated who was responsible.
Asked if he feared Putin could deploy tactical nuclear weapons, Armed Forces minister James Heappey told LBC: “It is a possibility but it is a very small possibility, even at this stage”.
He added “there are things we are more worried about” than nuclear weapons at the moment, such as thermobaric weapons.
Meanwhile the UK is drawing up plans to take 100,000 Ukrainian children into schools, the Education Secretary has confirmed.
Tory minister Nadhim Zahawi told BBC Question Time: “We’re planning for capacity just for the family reunion group of 100,000 children.”
It came as audience members and the Ukrainian ambassador slammed the UK’s response for Ukrainian refugees on the flagship debate show.
Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the former PM of Denmark, said: “It must be possible to do it faster because they’re sitting somewhere, they have nowhere to stay… and half, 40% are children.”
A British-Ukrainian audience member draped in his country’s flag said: “I don’t know why you’re creating this logistical problem.”
Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the current Tory government had failed refugees “time and time again” after a long and proud history.
“In the build up to the Second World War, most of Europe turned their backs on the Jewish people who were trying to flee, and in the wake of that we became a country that took thousands of Ugandan Asians, thousands of Vietnamese boat people, thousands of Cypriots,” he said.
He added: “Is it the best of Britain? Is it the best we can do? Of course it’s not.”
