After the bombing of the maternity hospital in Mariupol, this Wednesday, March 9, Russia justified its action by the fact that the establishment housed Ukrainian nationalists.
The head of Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov explained in particular that no more staff and patients from the pediatric hospital and the maternity ward were present. According to him, the places are inhabited by the Azov battalion, pro-Ukrainian radicals. However, a little girl and two other people succumbed to the attack, according to the mayor of the city.
Faced with these atrocious acts of war, the head of diplomacy of the European Union expressed his dismay in a tweet: “Marioupol is besieged. The bombing by Russia of a hospital including a maternity ward is a heinous war crime”.
#Mariupol is under siege.
Russia’s shelling of maternity hospital is a heinous war crime.
Strikes of residential areas from the air and blocks of access of aid convoys by the Russian forces must immediately stop.
Safe passage is needed now.#PutinsWar #Accountability
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) March 10, 2022
The Ukrainian president also called the bombing of the Mariupol hospital a “war crime”. According to him, this attack is proof that “a genocide of Ukrainians is happening.”
The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, also described this act of the Russian forces as “war crimes”. He also assured that Madrid, like other EU member countries, supports the investigation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) “so that these criminal acts do not go unpunished”.
French President Emmanuel Macron, for his part, spoke of an “unworthy act of war”.
As a reminder, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, opened an investigation on March 2 into the situation in Ukraine for “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity”.