INTERNATIONAL: Russia has said on Thursday a Ukrainian claim that it bombed a children's hospital in Mariupol was "fake news" because the building was a former maternity hospital that had long been taken over by troops.

"That’s how fake news is born," Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia's first deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, has said.

Polyanskiy has also said Russia had warned on March 7 that the hospital had been turned into a military object from which Ukrainians were firing.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has accused Russia of carrying out genocide after Ukrainian officials said Russian aircraft bombed the children's hospital on Wednesday.

^{PHOTO: AFTERMATH OF STRIKE ON MARIUPOL CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL, CARS ON FIRE, DESTROYED BUILDING, WOUNDED BRING CARRIED OUT OF HOSPITAL, RUBBLE, SHATTERED WINDOWS, BROKEN DOORS, WALLS AND EQUIPMENT INSIDE HOSPITAL, DEBRIS AND EMERGENCY SERVICES ON SITE}