More from Russia’s claims about the bombing of a maternity and children’s hospital in Mariupol – they are now saying the incident was staged by Ukraine.
Three people – two adults and a girl – were killed and 17 were wounded in the devastating strike.
Speaking on Rossiya 24 news channel, Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said “absolutely no missions to hit targets on the ground by Russian aviation in the Mariupol area were carried out”.
He then claimed: “The alleged airstrike that took place is a completely orchestrated provocation to maintain anti-Russian excitement among the Western audience.”
But earlier today (see our post just before 11:00GMT) Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the hospital was a legitimate military target because it had been “taken over” by Ukrainian radicals and “all the mothers and nurses were chased out of there”.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Lavrov’s claim was a lie and called the strike a war crime.
BBC