Britain on Thursday accused Russia of a "war crime" for an attack the previous day on a children's and maternity hospital in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol. Ukrainian officials have said that at least three people, including a young girl, were killed in the strike, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky labelled an "atrocity" soon after it happened.

U.K. armed forces minister James Heappey said Thursday that regardless of whether it was "indiscriminate" fire by Russia into a built-up area or a deliberate targeting of a health facility, "it is a war crime."

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, speaking alongside Poland's president Thursday in Warsaw, noted the attack on the hospital and said the world was witnessing "atrocities of unimaginable proportions in Ukraine."

"We lost three people, including a child, a girl. The number of wounded is 17. These are children, women, medical workers," Ukraine's Zelensky said in a video address on Thursday.

"This topic was mentioned on Russian TV," said Zelensky. "But not a word of truth was said. The Russians were lied to that there had been no patients in the hospital and no women or children in the maternity hospital. The Russians were lied to that 'nationalists' had allegedly taken up positions there. They lie confidently, as always."

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told journalists after the March 10 talks in Turkey that his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, would not commit to a halt in the war so aid could reach hundreds of thousands of civilians, including Kyiv's main humanitarian priority -- evacuating people trapped in Mariupol, where daily missions to rescue noncombatants have failed for almost a week.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has accused Russia of committing a war crime with the attack on the medical facility, which underscored U.S. warnings that the biggest assault on a European state since World War II could become increasingly attritional as Russia encounters stronger-than-expected resistance from Ukrainian forces.

The White House has condemned the attack as a "barbaric" use of force against civilians, while British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called it "depraved."

The Permanent Representative of the United States accused us of not complying with our obligations to create safe humanitarian corridors. Let's sort this out.

Let me underscore that a threat to civilians in Ukraine is posed not by Russian military who do not target civil infrastructure, but by Ukrainian radicals and neo-Nazis who hold population of several cities as hostages. Using civilians as a human shield, they do not let them exit cities even despite humanitarian corridors and ceasefires arranged by the Russian forces. This can be proven by numerous examples.

On 4 March, Russian Defense Ministry and Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister I.Vereshchuk negotiated parameters of humanitarian corridors from Mariupol to Zaporozhye and from Volnovakh to Denepropetrovsk. They should have opened at 10 am on 5 March. As requested by Kiev, representatives of the ICRC were invited to the areas of humanitarian passages. The Russian side was ready to render comprehensive assistance to maintain security during the evacuation. We informed the UN Secretariat about that in due course.

However the Ukrainian radicals who were in Mariupol violated this agreement. As we take it from an intercepted communication of two commanders of the Azov battalion, the radicals in Volnovakh received an order to kneecap those heading towards humanitarian corridors. Those who dared to leave Mariupol at their own peril and risk, were shot by Ukrainian Nazis at checkpoints when trying to exit the city. Again, there is plenty of video evidence proving this.

By our records, 200 thousand civilians are trapped in Mariupol alone and held at gunpoint by the Azov battalion. The humanitarian situation in cities deteriorates rapidly. As for humanitarians who are ready to help, they cannot get in there and prevent the unfolding disaster. People in other regions of Ukraine that have been blocked by nationalist battalions find themselves in the same desperate situation.

Ukrainian radicals show their true face more distinctly by the day. Locals reports that Ukraine's Armed Forces kicked out personnel of natal hospital #1 of the city of Mariupol and set up a firing site within the facility. Besides, they fully destroyed one of the city's kindergartens.

In addition to this, the Ukrainian side strongly refuses to cooperate with regard to evacuation of civilians from Kharkov and Sumy.

Taking into account the deplorable humanitarian situation and its steep deterioration in Kiev, Kharkov, Sumy, and Mariupol, and also following a personal request of President of France E.Macron to President of Russia V.Putin, Russian Armed Forces announced that at 10.00 am on 7 March 2022, a ceasefire would start and humanitarian corridors from Kiev, Mariupol, and Sumy would open to facilitate exit both to the territory of Russia (for those who would like to use this logistically reliable route), and to the territory of Ukraine.

Yesterday evening, this information was communicated to Kiev, specialized mechanisms of the UN, OSCE, ICRC and other international organizations via all available information resources, including Mass Media.

We only received Kiev's official response at 07:10 am Moscow time, and it ignored the humanitarian corridors to Russia. Deputy PM of Ukraine I.Vereshchuk elaborated on this in an official statement, calling the proposal to open humanitarian passages leading to Russia "absurd and unacceptable".

It is clear to us that the Kiev regime tries to prevent exit of civilians and foreign citizens to Russia in every way possible, out of fear that once liberated, people will tell everyone the truth about the acts of Ukrainian radicals. Actually, people who could escape from the radicals, are already doing this - telling the truth about threats, blackmail, physical violence, shooting civilians and foreigners to kill. To illustrate, let me quote the mayor of Sumy, Mr. Oleksandr Lysenko, who made the following statement today jointly with a commander of a nationalist battalion: "There will be no green corridors, no civilian will exit to Russia, and those who attempt doing so will be shot".

While saying that Ukrainian civilians cannot be evacuated to Russia, Ukrainian officials ignore the fact that Ukrainian refugees are already present in Russian regions. More than 168,000 people have been evacuated to Russia from the areas of the special military operation, including 43,469 children. Over the past 24 hours, the total of 5,550 people have been evacuated, including 740 children.

19 256 personal vehicles have crossed the state border of the Russian Federation, including 900 personal vehicles over the past 24 hours.

We organize temporary accommodation facilities, all of them are ready to engage individually with civilians arriving from Ukraine.

Unfortunately, issues of evacuation from other regions also get politicized, as well as issues relating to humanitarian assistance. In particular, Ukraine's request (that was articulated less than 3 hours prior to the opening of humanitarian corridors) to organize evacuation from a number of settlements controlled by the Russian Armed Forces looks absurd. None of the dwellers of those settlements indicated willingness to leave. They live peacefully in their homes, nothing threatens them. In parallel to this, we are requested to organize evacuation of population from cities that are so far controlled by nationalist battalions. Finally, we are asked to deliver Ukrainian allegedly humanitarian cargos to Melitopol and Berdyansk of the Zaporozhye region and the city of Kherson. This also appears cynical with regard to the people of these cities, because currently these areas are under full control of the Russian Armed Forces, and the population lives their peaceful lives while being procured with everything they need, including Russia's humanitarian assistance, 550 tons of which have been delivered to various regions of Ukraine.

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© Reuters Archive/KJNForeign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian

China's foreign ministry has called on the US to disclose information on the Pentagon's alleged biological laboratories in Ukraine "as soon as possible".

On Monday, the Russian military said Ukrainian authorities had been destroying pathogens studied at its laboratories. Moscow claimed that 30 US-financed Ukrainian biolabs have been actively cooperating with the American military.

Kiev has denied developing bioweapons. According to the website of the US embassy in Kiev, the US Department of Defense's Biological Threat Reduction Program only "collaborates with partner countries to counter the threat of outbreaks" of infectious diseases. In 2020, the embassy called such theories about US-funded biolabs in Ukraine "disinformation."

Speaking at a press briefing on Tuesday, however, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian claimed that, according to his country's information, the laboratories in Ukraine are just "a tip of an iceberg" and that the US Department of Defense "controls 336 biological laboratories in 30 countries around the world." This is done under the pretext of "cooperating to reduce biosecurity risks" and "strengthening global public health," Zhao said.

It is the first time that Beijing has disclosed the alleged figure. Zhao said that according to data "released by the United States itself," there are 26 US laboratories in Ukraine. In light of Russia's military offensive in the country, he urged "all parties concerned" to ensure the safety of the labs.

"In particular, the United States, as the party which knows these laboratories best, should publish the relevant details as soon as possible, including which viruses are stored and which research has been carried out."

He claimed the US "has been exclusively obstructing" the establishment of an independent verification mechanism. Such behavior, Zhao said, "further aggravates the concerns of the international community."

According to a report in The Rio Times, the US embassy in Ukraine deleted all information about Pentagon-financed bio-labs in the country from its website on February 26. However, journalist Dilyana Gaytandzhieva claimed embassy staff forgot to remove a document showing that the Pentagon is funding two new biolabs in Kiev and Odessa. The Brazilian news outlet claimed:

"Ukraine has no control over the military biolabs. The Ukrainian government is not allowed to release sensitive information about the program."

Over the past 20 years, the Science and Technology Center in Ukraine, jointly established with the United States, invested over $285 million in about 1,850 projects carried out by scientists who, according to Gaytandzhieva, previously worked on the development of weapons of mass destruction.

US authorities are yet to comment on the latest claims.