Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba after a meeting of the UN General Assembly on the situation in Ukraine at the UN headquarters.
Lev Radin | Light rocket | Getty Images
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba responded to statements made on Thursday by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov by saying that the leadership in Moscow is “living in its own reality.”
Kuleba’s comments come after the Russian foreign minister previously denied that Russian troops had bombed a children’s hospital and maternity ward on Wednesday, killing three people, including a child, and injuring many others.
Asked by CNBC’s Hadley Gamble how Russia could justify such an act, Lavrov said it was “not the first time we’ve seen screams in response to so-called atrocities,” echoing the Russian line that the hospital had already been taken over by militants. Ukrainian “ultra-radicals”.
The Russian Foreign Minister did not provide any evidence for this claim, nor did he specify how he knew the alleged details about those in the hospital in the city, which is held by Ukrainian forces. Its Russian besiegers attack it from a distance with artillery.
Lavrov also said the pregnant women were taken from the hospital a few days ago, despite photographic evidence to the contrary showing pregnant women being carried out of the hospital after a missile attack.
Kuleba said Moscow appeared to believe its claims about the hospital.
“Unfortunately, I can confirm that the Russian leadership, including Minister Lavrov, live in their own reality. In our conversations, behind closed doors and in the absence of the media, he told me, looking into my eyes, that the photographs of pregnant women taken from the rubble of the maternity hospital are fakes, that the maternity hospital was hit like a military target, because the Russian military was absolutely sure that he is under the control of the Ukrainian army,” he told CNBC.
Talks between Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers in Turkey earlier Thursday ended in failure as no progress was made on establishing a ceasefire or safe passage for civilians trying to leave the besieged city of Mariupol. Discussions between Lavrov and Kuleba lasted only 1.5 hours.
After the talks, Kuleba told a press conference that the talks were “both easy and difficult.”
“Easy because Minister Lavrov basically followed his traditional narratives about Ukraine, but difficult because I did my best to find a diplomatic solution to the humanitarian tragedy unfolding on the battlefield and in besieged cities,” he said.
According to Kuleba, no progress has been made on Ukraine’s proposal for a 24-hour ceasefire, nor on the establishment of a humanitarian corridor in and out of Mariupol, both for the escape of citizens from the city and for the delivery of humanitarian aid to it.