Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov clarified on 10 March 2022, that the Mariupol maternity hospital was no longer in service when it was shelled by the Russian Army.

It was occupied by the Azov Battalion (neo-Nazis) who had booted out the patients and staff. The human toll that was announced is a gross manipulation.

Ukraine has been exposed once again, since Russia had informed the United Nations about the hospital occupation three days before.