Russia justifies bombing that destroyed a maternal and child hospital in Mariupol and says there were no patients

The Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, denied today that in the children’s hospital in Mariupolwhich was attacked on Tuesday, had patients and accused “the Western media” of only presenting “the Ukrainian point of view.”

“There is a Russophobia throughout the West directed from the United States”Held Lavrovafter meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmitry Kulebaand Turkish, Mevlut Cavusoglu, in Turkey.

SIGHT: War in Ukraine: Russian bombardment destroys children’s hospital in Mariupol, leaving many injured | PHOTOS

In a press conference after the short diplomatic meeting, the head of Russian diplomacy assured that the aforementioned hospital served as a base for Ukrainian extremists.

According to the minister, the Russian government presented documents to the UN Security Council at a meeting held in March that corroborate that this hospital center was in the hands of an extreme nationalist group called Azov and other radical organizations.

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Its members all the patients had been expelled from the hospital housed in it, in addition to health and service personnel, he explained.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meets in Turkey with Ukrainian Foreign Minister. (OZAN KOSE / AFP).

“It was a base of the ultra-radical battalion”, stressed Lavrov about the alleged occupants of the hospital attacked by the Russians and where, according to Ukrainian sources, at least three people died, including two minors.

At least 17 people, including children and women, as well as health personnel, were also injured in the attack.

Mariupola city in the southeast of Ukraine with some 500,000 inhabitants, is one of those that has suffered the most from attacks and siege by Russian troops since the invasion of the country began on February 24.

Some 1,300 inhabitants of that city have been killed by bombings and attacks since the beginning of the invasion two weeks ago, according to the deputy mayor of the city, Piotr Andryushchenko.

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Source: Elcomercio