Three people - including a young girl - have been killed in the bombing of a hospital in Mariupol, the city's council has announced.
The council said that the children's and maternity hospital in Ukraine was destroyed by the Russian blast yesterday (March 9). Speaking to the BBC this morning, Mariupol's deputy mayor said 17 people had also been injured in the attack, including pregnant women and doctors working at the site.
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Sergei Orlov told the Today programme: "The last information that we have about victims is that most of the visitors were in a bomb shelter.
“That’s why we have information about 17 injured people - and that’s mostly pregnant women and doctors who work in this hospital.
“We don’t have information about children, but the information is being collected at the moment.”
The world has reacted with anger to the blast on a hospital for women and children which was roundly condemned on the front pages of national papers this morning. Images from the scene show women being taken away from the hospital while severely injured.
Russia has stoked more anger after claiming this morning the blast on the hospital was 'fake news' - insisting the building was in fact a former maternity hospital that had long been taken over by troops.
Mr Orlov added that he was 'absolutely sure' Russia knew about the hospital before the blast, adding that it was not the first hospital to be targeted in Mariupol since the war broke out.
He said: "This is the third hospital that they have destroyed in the city. The previous day they destroyed hospital number nine by artillery shelling. This was a Covid hospital with 300 beds.
“They have also attacked and destroyed a blood collection station in Mariupol. So, it is the third hospital, I’m absolutely sure they know what are their targets.”
Defence minister James Heappey has accused Russia of committing a war crime by striking the hospital in Mariupol.
Pressed on whether he thinks the attack constitutes a war crime, he told BBC Breakfast this morning: “Yes, if you deliberately target a piece of civilian infrastructure like a hospital, yes.
“If you use indiscriminate artillery into an urban area without due regard for the reality, you could hit a protected site like a hospital, then that too in my view is.”
Mr Heappey said the blast was 'utterly despicable' and insisted 'people will be held to account for what they are doing'.
Ukraine has woken up after another night of bombings, with four people killed in a house blast in Kharkiv, including two children.
The foreign ministers of Ukraine and Russia are due to meet in Turkey for peace talks this morning.
At least 2.2 million people have now fled Ukraine as refugees.
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