Frankfurt, 8 July 2024 (dpa/MIA) - Germany has offered support and treatment for Ukrainian children after a Russian missile attack that struck a paediatric hospital in Kiev.

German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach promised his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Lyashko in a post on X "that we will take in sick children in need at any time, the next rescue flight will take off on Wednesday."

Lauterbach went on to write: "[Russian President Vladimir] Putin has once again shown that he is a war criminal by deliberately attacking a children's hospital."

Ukraine's ambassador to Germany, Oleksiy Makeyev, thanked Lauterbach on X for his "active solidarity and compassionate humanity," which he said could save children's lives.

Since the beginning of the war, the German government has repeatedly taken in sick and injured people from Ukraine for treatment in German hospitals and clinics, as well as children in need of palliative care.

One of Ukraine's largest paediatric clinics in Kiev was hit by a Russian missile attack on Ukraine on Monday. Mayor Vitali Klitschko spoke of 16 casualties in the hospital, including 7 children. Two of the injured died.

The Russian Defence Ministry confirmed that Russian forces launched missile attacks, but claimed that those missile strikes were aimed at arms factories and military airfields in Ukraine.

Russia claimed without offering any evidence that the damage in Kiev was caused by a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile.