The Kremlin's ambassador to the United Nations has told Sky News that a theatre, reportedly full of hundreds of civilians, which was ripped apart in the besieged city of Mariupol was not bombed by Russia.
But the denial has been dismissed by UK defence minister James Heappey, who questioned how the envoy "sleeps at night".
Some survivors have apparently been pulled from the rubble by rescue teams following Wednesday's airstrike which Ukrainian officials said was carried out by President Vladimir Putin's forces.
Up to 1,000 men, women and children were thought to have been sheltering in the theatre's basement for safety after their homes were destroyed during the invasion.
And the word "children" had reportedly been displayed in large letters at the site, prior to the attack, warning warplanes about those inside.
But the Russian ambassador, Vasily Nebenzya, denied his country played any part in the incident and said there was "an information war taking place on a larger scale than the battlefield".
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He told Sky's US correspondent Martha Kelner: "The theatre in Mariupol was not bombed by Russia."
Mr Nebenzya added: "I have seen so many fakes. We have this information war which is raging on a much greater scale than on the battlefield, and I will not be surprised at anything because who wins the information war - the one who wins the war."
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But Mr Heappey told Sky News: "I don't know how the Russian ambassador sleeps at night.
"It is clear as day what's happening in Mariupol, the Russians are indiscriminately using artillery and missile strikes to destroy a city that they were unable to take militarily.
"The resistance that remains in there is courageous.
"Mariupol is probably the worst, it's the one that we're most concerned about, but actually there's not dissimilar things happening in Kharkiv as well and other places.
"This is a barbaric tactic."
Meanwhile in a joint statement, the foreign ministers of the Group of Seven leading economies have accused President Putin of conducting an "unprovoked and shameful war".
And they called on Russia to comply with the International Court of Justice's order to stop its attack and withdraw its forces.
Speaking at the UN Security Council, Mr Nebenzya claimed people who had left Mariupol said on 13 March that the Azov Battalion, a far-right Ukrainian militia, had been holding a "huge number of people" in the building and was "preparing a bloody provocation".
Theatre 'never a target', says ambassador
In his speech in New York, he acknowledged the "children" word outside the theatre, said Russian armed forces were "informed of the situation" and the building "was never considered as a target for a strike".
The shelter is believed to have stood firm in the bombing, and rescuers have been clearing rubble blocking the entrance to the basement.
Mariupol has suffered the worst humanitarian catastrophe of the three-week war, with hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped in basements with no food, water or power.
Mr Nebenzya said the southeastern city had previously had an "infamous jail and torture centre" at the airport which he compared to "neo-Nazism".
And he claimed "Ukrainian radicals" were "clinging to the city" and "covering up maybe proof of their crimes… and they understand they will have to be held accountable".
"That's why they stand ready to drag into the grave almost the entire population of Mariupol," he said.
Mr Nebenzya alleged the authorities in Mariupol "use people as human shields, they do not allow them to evacuate and they place right next to residential buildings heavy weaponry in violation of humanitarian law".
Russia accused of 'complete disinformation'
But the UK's ambassador to the UN, Barbara Woodward, has said the Security Council meetings play an important role in exposing Russian disinformation.
"What we're trying to do is isolate Russia and keep pressure on Russia to end the war," she told Sky News. "We saw that with the attack on the theatre - Russia say they're attacking military targets, they're actually attacking children who are sheltering.
"This war is characterised by Russian disinformation. They said they weren't going to invade, they said they weren't going to target civilian targets. For the Russians this is a war of complete disinformation, it's hard to distinguish the truth."
There has been an escalation in rhetoric from the US about President Putin in recent days.
US President Joe Biden called Mr Putin a war criminal and a "murderous dictator," while the US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that he personally also believes that Mr Putin is a war criminal.
"We're certainly agreeing there are war crimes being committed in Ukraine," Ambassador Woodward said. "They have to be investigated by the relevant international legal authorities.
"But really the main thing we have to do now is stop the war, get Russian boots off the ground and return Ukraine to peace."
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The Kremlin has insisted Russia does not target civilians in what President Putin calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine.
Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for Russia's foreign ministry, said Kyiv was trying to frame Russia for the Mariupol incident.
"The Kyiv regime immediately tried to blame the Russian military, who, in its view, allegedly dropped a bomb from the air on the theatre," she said.
"Of course, this is a lie. It is well known to everyone that the Russian armed forces do not bomb cities. No matter how many videos are doctored by NATO structures and how many video clips and photo fakes are pumped out, the truth will come out."
In the northern city of Chernihiv, at least 53 people had been taken to morgues over the last 24 hours, after being killed amid heavy Russian air attacks and ground fire, local governor Viacheslav Chaus told Ukrainian TV.
Read more: What are the chances of a peace deal with Russia to end the conflict?
Ukraine's emergency services said a mother, a father and three of their children, including three-year-old twins, were killed when a Chernihiv hostel was shelled.
And at least 21 people were killed when Russian artillery destroyed a school and a community centre in Merefa, near the northeast city of Kharkiv, according to mayor Veniamin Sitov.
Read more: What chemical and biological weapons could Russia have - and what has it used before?
In the capital city Kyiv, where residents have been huddling in homes and shelters, a fire broke out in an apartment building hit by remnants of a downed Russian rocket, killing one person, according to authorities.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for more help for his country in his latest video address to German legislators, saying thousands of people have been killed, including 108 children.
He also referred to the dire situation in Mariupol, saying: "Everything is a target for them."
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2022-03-18 07:38:30Z
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