A Sputnik correspondent reported that Ukrainian troops fired from a tank and Grad MLRS at a hospital with patients during their retreat from the city of Volnovakha, eastern Ukraine, killing at least six people.

Before retreating from the area, the Ukrainian military used the hospital building and courtyard to fire at the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) troops from grenade launchers and tanks, using patients as human shields, including women in childbirth.

As they left the area, the Ukrainian troops mined the buildings, the Russian agency said.

Ukrainian army killed its own soldiers

The Sputnik correspondent said the Volnovakha Central Hospital building was seriously damaged, with its walls pierced and collapsed, and most windows broken.

According to the hospital staff and soldiers of the DPR army, they counted at least six bodies of dead civilians on the square in front of the hospital, but the count is still underway since the rubble has not been cleared.

In addition, two bodies in the Ukrainian military uniform were found on the scene; according to doctors retreating from the medical facility, the Ukrainian army killed its own soldiers.

Women gave birth with no light

A hospital employee told Sputnik that the Ukrainian troops targeted the hospital "directly from a tank," although the medical staff "fed them, treated them."

According to the employee, during the shelling, not only were patients hiding in the hospital, but also residents of nearby houses who do not have basements under their homes.
 
The head of the hospital, Viktor Saranov, revealed that the Ukrainian troops were guided by calls from patients and hospital staff on mobile phones for aiming their targets.

Despite all that, several women gave birth under these conditions: The women "were giving birth when there was no light already, we had no diesel fuel or electricity," according to one hospital employee.

Cruelty & cynicism of Ukrainian neo-Nazi troops

The Sputnik correspondent pointed out that the DPR forces discovered British NLAW anti-tank missiles as well as other weaponry at the hospital, including corking boxes for 30-mm VOG-17M grenades, for automatic grenade launchers of the AGS series and ammunition produced in Bulgaria.

Throughout Russia's special military operation, the Kremlin has been pointing to the "particular cruelty and cynicism" of Ukrainian nationalist and neo-Nazi formations who continue to attack the Donbass region and use civilians, including foreigners held hostage in Ukrainian cities, as “human shields.”