According to Reuters reported on the 10th, the Russian Defense Ministry on Thursday denied the Russian army's statement that it "bombed an obstetrics and gynecology hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine" the day before, accusing Ukraine of carrying out "premeditated provocations" there.
An obstetrics and gynaecology hospital in Mariupol was shelled Image source: People's Vision
The Russian Defense Ministry said it did not conduct airstrikes on ground targets in the area on Wednesday out of respect for the "state of silence" agreed by both sides.
Meanwhile, U.S. social media giant Twitter and The Facebook platform owned by Meta said on Thursday that it had deleted a statement post posted by the Russian Embassy in Britain about the "bombing of a hospital in Mariupol" on the grounds that the post violated the platform's so-called "prohibition on denying violent incidents."
A Twitter spokesperson said: "We have taken enforcement action against the tweets mentioned above because they violate the rules of the Twitter platform, particularly our rules on prohibiting hateful acts and abuses related to the denial of violence."
The Russian Embassy in the UK previously posted in a clarification of the matter included a red-labeled picture that read "false" and noted that "this building was once an obstetrics and gynecology hospital in Mariupol and has long been taken over by the (Ukrainian) army." ”
The Ukrainian side previously claimed that three people in the hospital, including a child, were killed in the airstrike. According to Ukrainian officials, the attack resulted in injuries to women in childbirth and many children buried in the rubble.
"What kind of country is the Russian Federation that is afraid of hospitals, afraid of obstetrics and gynecology hospitals, so it wants to destroy them?" Ukrainian President Zelenskiy said in a televised address late Wednesday. Taking this opportunity, he once again called on Western countries to strengthen sanctions against Russia," so that they can sit at the negotiating table and end this brutal war." He also claimed that the bombing of the maternity hospital was "evidence of the ongoing genocide against Ukrainians."
The US White House condemned the incident claimed by the Ukrainian side as a "barbaric act of using force against innocent civilians."
U.N. human rights bodies say they are verifying the number of casualties in Mariupol.
Kremlin spokesman Peskov said in an interview with Reuters: "Russian troops will not open fire on civilian targets."
(Editor: ZLQ)