Moscow
responds to Ukraine maternity clinic bombing accusation
The facility had not been used by civilians
for some time before it was hit, Lavrov said
Aftermath of a Russian airstrike on a
maternity hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol. Image via Global Look
Press
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov denied
Ukrainian claims that Russian troops had shelled an operating maternity
hospital in Ukraine. The building had been used as a base by the far-right Azov
Battalion of the Ukrainian National Guard, the top Russian diplomat claimed on
Thursday, during a press conference in Turkey.
The hospital in question has been for days under
the control of a Ukrainian paramilitary group and Moscow presented evidence of
this to the UN Security Council several days ago, Lavrov said.
“The Azov Battalion and
other radicals kicked out all the expectant mothers, the nurses and other staff
members. It was the base of the Azov ultra-radicals,” he said, speaking after meeting his
Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba in Turkey’s Antalya.
Lavrov added that
reports coming from Ukraine that contradict this were obviously meant to “manipulate
global public opinion” about what is happening in the country, and he
also chastised Western media for taking part in the propaganda effort.
“I have seen reports …
that were really emotional. Unfortunately, the other side of the situation,
which would allow one to form an objective opinion, was not given any
prominence,” Lavrov said.
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The Russian diplomat was commenting on claims
raised by Ukraine that Russian troops had deliberately attacked a medical
facility in the city of Mariupol on Wednesday. Ukrainian officials claimed that
a Russian airstrike had injured at least 17 people but killed nobody.
Footage from the scene showed a heavily damaged
building with broken medical equipment scattered inside and Ukrainian troops
helping women, some of them carrying infants in their arms, who were implied to
be survivors of a bombing.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a
video address on Wednesday that the incident proved that Russia was conducting
a genocide of the Ukrainian people and called on other nations to stop Russian
atrocities.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier on
Thursday commented on the allegations, suggesting the details are rather vague
and it’s better to prompt the Russian military for details.
“We will definitely ask our military. You and I
don’t have definitive information about what had happened there,” he told journalists.