On Tuesday, July 9, investigative journalists Bellingcat released a material in which they proved that the largest childrenʼs hospital of Ukraine in Kyiv, Okhmatdyt, was hit by a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile.
They analyzed videos from social networks showing the moment of impact and the missile itself, conducted 3D modeling of the missile and came to a clear conclusion. The version about the X-101 Bellingcat was also confirmed by a number of specialists and experts, for example, a doctoral student at the University of Oslo, Fabian Hoffmann, who specializes in rocket technology.
Bellingcat experts also verified the version of Kremlin propaganda and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia that the hospital was hit by an anti-aircraft missile AIM-120 anti-aircraft missile system NASAMS. They did not find any confirmation of this. In the still shot, the missile has a typical X-101 engine in the tail, has wings and a rounded "head" like a Russian missile.
The Bellingcat investigation quickly spread on Elon Muskʼs X social network, but users noticed that the material began to be flagged as dangerous. This provoked criticism of Elon Musk.
In his tweet, the founder of Bellingcat, Eliot Higgins, asked for whom the material is "unsafe, for Putin?".
"The link you are trying to navigate to has been identified by X or our partners as potentially spammy or dangerous in accordance with Xʼs URL policy," reads a warning on the platform.
Bellingcat has already responded to this and wrote that they have contacted X. Investigators encourage you to read the material on the website.
- On July 8, 2024, Russia massively attacked Ukraine with missiles of various types. One of them hit the Okhmatdyt childrenʼs hospital, destroying the toxicology building and damaging four more. About 670 children and about a thousand employees were in the hospital at the time of the attack. They hid in basements, so large casualties were avoided. As a result, two people died (one of them is 30-year-old nephrologist Svitlana Lukyanchuk). Children were injured.
- On the same day, the SBU reported that it had found fragments of a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile launched by Tu-95 and Tu-160 bombers on the territory of the hospital. On July 9, the SBU showed new evidence of Russiaʼs involvement in the attack.
- On the day of the July 8 attack, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation officially announced that the strikes on Ukraine were a response to attacks on Russian energy facilities. The department claimed that the rockets hit the military industry and airbases, and the destruction of the Okhmatdyt hospital and the destruction of residential high-rise buildings were called by the Ministry of Defense "hysterics of the Kyiv regime on the eve of the meeting (summit) of patrons from NATO." Russian propaganda, federal channels and so-called warlords began to promote the version that the hospital was hit by an AIM-120 anti-aircraft missile of the NASAMS anti-aircraft complex or a missile from the American Patriot complex, which are protecting the capital.
- The UN said that Okhmatdyt was most likely hit by a Russian missile. There they referred to their own analysis.