News / Russia

Russia denies hitting hospital in Ukraine

Thursday, 10 March 2022 10:56 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 10 March 2022 10:56 AM ]

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova

Russia has rejected as “information terrorism” a claim that its forces have bombed a children’s hospital in Ukraine’s Mariupol City, more than two weeks after Moscow launched a military offensive against Ukraine.

Ukraine claimed on Wednesday that Russian forces had hit a children’s hospital and maternity ward in the besieged port city of Mariupol several times with airstrikes, alleging that the attack had led to the injury of 17 people.

Kiev also alleged that the attack had trapped children and others under the rubble in what it called “a war crime without justification.”

On Thursday, however, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova strongly dismissed the allegation, saying, “This is information terrorism.”

Earlier, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had denounced the attack as “horrific,” saying that civilians were “paying the highest price for a war that has nothing to do with them.”

Separately on Thursday, Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy also dismissed the hospital bombing allegation.

Russia has said it would hold fire to allow thousands of civilians flee Mariupol and other besieged cities in Ukraine.

Hundreds of thousands of people are trapped without food and water in several cities, including Mariupol, where there is also no electricity. Several previous attempts to establish a humanitarian corridor from Mariupol have failed.