In the wake of a Russian maternity hospital bombing in the city of Mariupol, Ukraine, that claimed three lives – including one child – Wednesday, Russia claimed that Ukraine actually bombed the facility.
Russia’s Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov claimed explosions were caused by devices planted nearby in what he described as a “staged provocation to incite anti-Russian agitation in the West.”
In addition to the three deaths, 17 people were injured during the airstrike, per Ukrainian officials. According to multiple reports, Russia shifted its story regarding the bombing Thursday as criticism for the violent attack on civilians.
“The Kremlin displayed harried confusion in its response to criticism Thursday, at times completely denying the Mariupol hospital bombing and at other moments alleging an elaborate propaganda ploy by the West,” said USA Today.
“Russia has shifted its stance over the hospital bombing, with a mix of statements on Thursday that veered between aggressive denials and a call by the Kremlin to establish clear facts,” said Reuters.
Russia began an invasion of Ukraine Feb. 24. Mariupol has been a target of Russian attacks, and bodies are being buried there in mass graves. Civilians who remain in the city are now faced with scarce food, electricity and other resources.
Photos and video of the hospital bombing aftermath there “clearly show severely injured people – including a pregnant woman – being taken by stretcher from the rubble,” USA Today reported.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has called the event an “atrocity.”
“The bombing of a maternity hospital is horrific,” said White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki. “It’s barbaric. I don’t think anybody who saw that could not have been emotionally, deeply impacted.”
French President Emmanuel Macron called it “a shameful and immoral act of war.”
However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed Thursday that the hospital had been emptied of patients and was serving as an extremist base.
“This is not the first time when we see pathetic cries about so-called atrocities committed by the Russian armed forces,” Lavrov said. “Our delegation presented facts at a meeting of the U.N. Security Council proving that the maternity hospital had long been seized by fighters of the Azov battalion and other radicals. They kicked all patients, all nurses, and all service personnel out.”
The Azov battalion has been identified as a Neo-Nazi group operating in Ukraine.
After Lavrov’s claim about the Azov takeover came Konashenkov’s denial of the attack and claim of staged provocation.
Newsweek reported Friday that video of a Russian pilot “apparently admitting he had been ordered to bomb a civilian target, has been widely shown on Ukrainian media.”
According to Reuters, Twitter and Facebook both removed posts from the Russian Embassy in the United Kingdom about the hospital bombing for “breaking its rules against denying violent events.”
One of the tweets featured the claim that the hospital was non-functional and being used by Ukrainian armed forces.
“We took enforcement action against the Tweets you referenced as they were in violation of the Twitter Rules, specifically our Hateful Conduct and Abusive Behavior policies related to the denial of violent events,” said a Twitter spokesperson, according to the outlet.
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