Thursday, March 10: World Vision Australia condemns the attack on a children's hospital and maternity ward in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol as a horrifying act against children, the sick and those seeking refuge.
World Vision Australia CEO Daniel Wordsworth, who this week led the organisation's first mercy dash to deliver supplies to a hospital in Ukraine near the Romanian border, said the hospital strike was a shocking development.
"What have we come to when hospitals become targets in conflicts like this?" Daniel said.
"Hospitals should be safe havens during conflict. This is the very reason why World Vision is working to get help to hospitals, for patients and for the children and families taking shelter in them."
This unimaginable act of violence shows how children are always the most vulnerable in any war and that they must be protected, Daniel said.
"It is heartbreaking to hear reports that children and mothers are still trapped under the rubble and that Mariupol, now without water, food and electricity and completely surrounded, is under constant shelling."
He said there's only one way to ensure that women and children are not killed by bombs, and that's by not dropping bombs at all.
While welcoming the Australian Government's $35 million humanitarian aid package for Ukraine, World Vision Australia is calling for an additional $10 million for NGOs focusing on the needs of children. We are also calling for a special humanitarian intake of 20,000 Ukrainian refugees so families can find peace and safety here.
