UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – A Russian envoy to the United Nations accused Reuters on Friday of “censoring” the statements of a survivor of the bombings that hit the Azovstal steel site in Mariupol, saying the report published by the agency omitted a remark critical of the Ukrainian forces.
Russian forces invaded Ukraine on February 24 and occupied the port of Mariupol, leaving the last Ukrainian fighters in the city and dozens of civilians holed up in a network of bunkers and tunnels under the Azovstal steelworks.
Russia’s deputy ambassador to the UN, Dimitri Polyansky, said a comment made by an evacuee from the steel plant was omitted from a Reuters report published on May 1.
In her account, collected by the media while she was in the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine, Natalia Usmanova said that Ukrainian troops held her and other civilians at the steel plant against their will.
A Reuters spokesman said the news agency stood by its reporting.
“We are always seeking to verify key aspects of Natalia Usmanova’s story. We are committed to reporting on the conflict in Ukraine impartially and independently, as we do around the world.”
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry and General Staff did not immediately respond to written requests for comment on statements made by Natalia Usmanova.
“Reuters actually heavily censored what she said,” Dimitri Polyansky told an informal session of the UN Security Council.
“How will Western viewers learn the truth, especially when Russian TV channels are, as we all know, banned in Western countries? Who is broadcasting propaganda here? Judge for yourself,” he said. he adds.
(Report Michelle Nichols; French version Camille Raynaud)
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