https://sputniknews.com-© Sputnik / Виктор Антонюк
UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) – Russia’s First Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dmitry Polyanskiy has dismissed reports about an attack on a hospital in Mariupol as fake news.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres earlier condemned on his Twitter an “attack on a hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, where maternity & children’s wards are located”, as “horrific”, noting that civilians are “paying the highest price for a war that has nothing to do with them”.
Polyanskiy wrote on Twitter in response to Guterres’ statement: “That’s how #Fakenews is born. We warned in our statement back on 7 March (https://russiaun.ru/en/news/070322n) that this hospital has been turned into a military object by radicals. Very disturbing that UN spreads this information without verification.”
Russia started a special military operation in Ukraine on 24 February in response to calls from the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics for protection against intensifying attacks by Ukrainian troops.
The Russian Defence Ministry said the special operation is only targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure and the civilian population is not in danger. Moscow has repeatedly said it has no plans to occupy Ukraine, and stressed that the goal of the operation is the demilitarisation and denazification of Ukraine.