Russian troops don't hit hospital in Mariupol, it's Kyiv's information provocation - Russian Defense Ministry

MOSCOW. March 10 (Interfax) - The Russian military has said it had not carried out a strike on a hospital in Mariupol, dismissing reports on the matter as an information provocation staged by the Ukrainian authorities.

"Absolutely no tasks to hit targets on the ground were accomplished by Russian military aircraft in the area of Mariupol," Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Thursday.

"The alleged airstrike that took place is a completely staged provocation in order to maintain the anti-Russian public outcry in the Western audience," he said.

Konashenkov described reports of a Russian airstrike on a Mariupol hospital on March 9 as "an information provocation staged by the Kyiv regime."