On July 8, in the morning, Russian troops launched missile attacks on Kyiv, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih and a number of other Ukrainian cities. The National Specialized Children’s Hospital “Ohmatdyt” was damaged.
The Ukrainian Review offers a selection of what European, Asian, African, and other media outlets wrote about this tragedy and the Ukraine news war. This will help to understand the portrait of Ukraine in the news and, accordingly, in these countries’ information spaces.
Accusing Russia of striking Okhmatdyt: African media
Africanews – a South African media outlet with 4.3 million visitors over the past two months.
The media published footage of the destroyed Okhmatdyt hospital and wrote that it was a Russian missile attack, “the targets of the attack were 5 cities, more than 40 missiles were fired.”
In another article, Africanews wrote about casualties, damaged equipment and open-air operations, and also noted that “Russia denied targeting a civilian object, despite strong evidence.”
Also, at the beginning of February, the media wrote about the Russian attack on Kharkiv. At the same time, Africanews quoted Putin as saying that he “rejects the ceasefire in Ukraine, claims that Kyiv can rearm again. “They also wrote that “Russian ambassador Nebenzia warns against supplying Ukraine with weapons.”
No mention of the tragedy or accusations of air defence: pro-Russian European countries
Serbian daily newspaper Politika has had 19.6 million visitors over the past two months.
The media did not write separate news about the missile attack on Okhmatdyt. They only noted that “tomorrow is a day of mourning in Kyiv due to the Russian attack” and “in connection with the attack by Russian terrorists on civilian objects in Kyiv.” Politika noted the number of victims, but did not specify at all where exactly the Russian missiles were aimed.
About the destruction of Okhmatdyt by a missile, Politika mentioned in the news that “Zelensky criticised the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Moscow at the moment when Russian missiles hit a children’s hospital in Kyiv.” However, the damage caused and the value of the hospital are not specified.
On the same day, the publication quoted Xi Jinping: “China calls for calming the situation in Ukraine and resumption of dialogue between the parties” and a quote from V. Zelenskyy that “Ukraine will respond to Russia’s attack.”
Hungarian media outlet Magyar Nemzet has 17.7 million visitors over the past two months.
The media mentioned the rocket attack on Kyiv and the rocket hitting the “Okhmatdyt” hospital, and published a video. However, it did not mention other cities that were affected that day.
The next piece of news is Viktor Orban’s quote that “there is no solution to the war at the front.”
The media also quoted Manfred Weber, the leader of the European People’s Party group in the European Parliament, saying that “there is no solution on the battlefield, there are only dead people, everyone will lose in this war.”
Magyar Nemzet also wrote the following: “Ukrainians blame the Russians, Moscow says they are not attacking civilian targets. Instead, the American journalist wrote about the fact that the USA Patriot Missile System, launched by Ukraine, hit the medical facility.”
No mention of Russian missile fire: Chinese media
People’s Daily, has had 1.3 million visitors over the past two months.
The media did not mention the attack on Okhmatdyt and did not publish anything about Ukraine on July 8. However, the next day, news broke that Xi Jinping and Viktor Orban met to discuss the solution to the crisis in Ukraine and that the foreign ministers of China and Belarus met to discuss the situation in Ukraine.
There is also news that “the Chinese ambassador calls on the parties to the Ukrainian conflict to be reasonable and restrained.”
Giving greater context to the tragedy: US media
Reuters has had 238.7 million visitors over the past two months.
The media immediately wrote that the Russians had targeted the children’s hospital and provided a video.
As the Ukrainian channel Resurgam reports, Reuters deleted the content of its first publication, which did not specify the hospital or its meaning. The text contained the phrases “an atypical and rare attack by Russia”, “Kyiv claims that there are victims”, and “Moscow that the strike was exclusively for military purposes”.
However, the text was replaced entirely with an indication of the hospital, its significance, and the victims, as well as full photos and video footage provided.
In another news article, Reuters wrote that the UN is talking about a Russian missile hitting, not Ukrainian air defence. However, he notes that Russia denies this.
The media writes about other missile attacks, and the provision of military aid to Ukraine.
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The reaction of foreign media to Russian atrocities – missile strikes on civilian infrastructure – clearly shows the position of these countries. Some play along with the Russian authorities and use this blow as a call for negotiations, while others understand the scale of the tragedy and convey it to the people.
Anya Ostymchuk
