In the space of 24 hours Russian forces have shelled a maternity hospital in the port city of Mariupol and two other medical facilities in Zhytomyr, northern Ukraine.
Pregnant women, children and doctors are reported to be among the dead and wounded.The World Health Organisation estimates that at least 18 hospitals have been attacked by Russian forces since the invasion began on 24 February.
Here, Professor Michael Clarke, analyst and former director-general of military think tank RUSI, offers his take on the recent hospital attacks in Mariupol and Zhytomyr - and how they fit into Vladimir Putin's strategy in Ukraine.
Putin has done this before.
The biggest example was in Idlib, Syria in 2019 where 24 hospital facilities were targeted first - before any other military action.
The International Red Cross and other members of the aid community had communicated the coordinates of the hospitals to make sure they would be left alone.
But instead the Russians used those very coordinates to bomb them. So after 2019 the aid community had to stop doing that. Sky News - link - Michael Clarke - link - more like this - link
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