Ukraine says 17 injured after Russian bombing at children's hospital and maternity ward.
In an interview, the Russian ambassador to France, Alexei Yuryevich Mechkov, said that Russia “had nothing to do” with the attack on the children’s hospital in Mariupol.
247 - The Russian bombing that hit a children's hospital and a maternity ward in Mariupol The bombing left 17 injured, according to Ukrainian authorities. The bombing destroyed the building's facade and shattered its windows.
In an interview with the French channel BMFTV, the Russian ambassador to France, Alexei Yuryevich Mechkov, said that Russia “had nothing to do” with the attack on the children's hospital in Mariupol. Mechkov stated that there is “a virtual war underway in Ukraine.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the attack "an atrocity" and reiterated his call for Western allies to create a no-fly zone over the country. "Mariupol. Direct attack by Russian troops on the maternity ward. People, children are under the rubble. Atrocity! How much longer will the world be complicit in ignoring terror? Close the skies right now! Stop the killings! You have power, but you seem to be losing your humanity," Zelensky posted on Twitter.
In addition to Zelensky, the attack was also condemned by some Western powers. The White House condemned the attack as an act of barbarity. "It is terrible to see this kind of barbaric use of military force to persecute innocent civilians in a sovereign country," said President Joe Biden's spokeswoman, Jen Psaki.
"There are few things more depraved than targeting the vulnerable and defenseless," stated British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin "will be punished for his terrible crimes."
Conflict in Mariupol
Mariupol is one of the focal points of conflicts between the Russians and the Ukrainian armed forces, the city being one of the main centers of the Azov Regiment (formerly a battalion), Nazi militia which was incorporated into the official Ukrainian forces.
The conflict in the city has lasted for more than a week. To confront the Russians, the Azov Regiment armed volunteer citizens and trained them.The resistance fighters have been using civilian buildings to confront the Russians. This frustrates the Russian government's announced plan to attack only military installations and infrastructure.
The Russians accuse Ukrainian nationalist militias of using the people as human shields.because they were hiding behind civilians — either by using civilian infrastructure, such as residential complexes, or, as reported by the Russian Ministry of Defense, by forcing civilians to place themselves in the middle of exchanges of fire between Russians and Ukrainians.
According to the Russians, To promote a bloodbath and place the blame on Russia, the Nazis in Mariupol have been preventing citizens from leaving through the humanitarian corridors., agreed on negotiations between the Russian and Ukrainian governmentsThis information, initially released by the fighting forces of the Donetsk People's Republic, was also... reinforced by some citizens who managed to escape., who reported deliberate attacks in the escape corridors.
The city of Mariupol is located in the east of the country. Since the US-backed coup in 2014, Mariupol has been a center for the organization of militias that, for eight years, have carried out thousands of attacks against citizens of Donbass, notably in the self-declared people's republics of Donetsk and Lugansk—majority ethnic Russians who decided to secede from Ukraine.
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