UNSC to hold emergency session on Ukraine after deadly hospital strike

The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Ukraine after a deadly Russian strike on a Kiev children's hospital, a spokesman for the world body has said.

The session scheduled for 10:00 am (1400 GMT) on Tuesday follows a request from Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, UN spokesman Farhan Aziz Haq said.

Zelenskyy said 38 people were killed and 190 wounded Monday in a wave of missiles that targeted towns and cities.

He said Kiev was "initiating an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council due to the Russian strike on civilian infrastructure".

The UN said Tuesday there was a "high likelihood" that the children's hospital in the capital suffered "a direct hit" from a Russian missile.

Danielle Bell, head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, called the strike "one of the most egregious attacks that we've seen since the onset of the full-scale invasion" by Russia in February 2022.