A newborn baby was killed at a Ukrainian hospital amid ramped up Russian missile attacks, officials say

• A Russian missile attack on a hospital in the Zaporizhzhia region killed a newborn, officials said.

• Other than the baby, the child's mother was the only patient in the facility, officials said.

• The Tuesday attack comes amid a spate of increased Russian missile strikes throughout Ukraine.

A newborn baby boy was killed after a Russian missile attack hit a hospital maternity ward in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region this week, according to Ukrainian officials.

The country's state emergency services said in a Wednesday statement that the baby's mother and the attending doctor were rescued from the rubble left by the impact of two rockets on the hospital located in the southeast village of Vilnyansk.

Other than the baby, the child's mother was the only patient at the facility, according to a Telegram post by the country's emergency services. The baby was only two days old, Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska said on Twitter.

"Horrible pain," she wrote. "We will never forget and never forgive."

The hospital was located near the frontlines of the fighting in the Zaporizhzhia region, which is also home to the largest nuclear plant in Europe, Ukrainian emergency services said.

The region, which has been the site of several Russian attacks since the war began, was claimed by Russia in September through illegal referendums. 

Oleksandr Starukh, the regional governor of the Zaporizhzhia region, said in a Telegram post that the "small maternity ward" had been hit by "huge missiles," according to NBC News. 

"Grief fills our hearts — a baby who has just appeared in the world has been killed," he wrote.

Russia was accused of bombing a maternity hospital in Mariupol in March, where three people, including one child, were killed, and at least 17 more were injured. Nearly 1,000 children have been killed or injured in Ukraine since the war began in February, UNICEF estimated in August, though the true number is likely even higher.

The Tuesday hospital attack comes amid a spate of increased Russian bombings across Ukraine this week. Ukrainian Emergency Services said multiple regions were attacked and officials responded to 159 incidents and detected and removed 1,453 explosive objects on Wednesday alone.

Missiles also hit the capital city of Kyiv on Wednesday, officials said. The city's military administration said three people were killed and six others were wounded in the attacks.

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