The Russian strike on a maternity hospital in Mariupol on Wednesday killed at least three people, including a child, the city council confirmed Thursday. Officials in the besieged Ukrainian city say at least 17 people were injured in the bombing, including women waiting to give birth, the AP reports. The strike, described as an atrocity by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, has been widely condemned worldwide, but Sergey Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, has rejected criticism, reports the BBC. Speaking after a meeting in Turkey with his Ukrainian counterpart, Lavrov slammed the "pathetic outcries concerning the so-called atrocities perpetrated by the Russian military." He denounced "very emotional" reports on the attack in Western media.
Lavrov claimed that Ukrainian "radicals" had taken over the hospital days ago and "all the mothers and nurses were chased out of there," though photos from the scene showed bleeding, heavily pregnant women being evacuated from the wrecked building. Other Russian officials including deputy permanent representative to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy described the attack as "fake news," though Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said information from the military was unclear and the Kremlin will look into the incident, reports Reuters. Ukrainian officials said Thursday that Russian forces had resumed bombing Mariupol and an aid convoy had been forced to turn back. (Aid workers describe the situation in the city as "apocalyptic.")
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
