A victim of the Mariupol hospital bombing has given birth after the Russian embassy in London falsely accused her of being an actress and faking her injuries.
Mariana Vishegirskaya was heavily pregnant when she was pictured with blood on her face as she fled the maternity and children’s wards in Mariupol which were hit by a Russian bomb.
In a series of bizarre messages posted on Twitter, the Russian embassy in London tried to claim she was “playing a role” and had access to make-up that could make her injuries look genuine because she was a beauty blogger.
One message said: “As she has some very realistic make-up. She is also doing well with her beauty blogs.
“Plus she could not be in the maternity house at the time of the strike, as it has long been taken by the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion who told all the staff to clear the place.”
Twitter later removed the posts, which were denounced by a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who accused the embassy of peddling disinformation.
Photos published today showed Ms Vishegirskaya with her newborn baby daughter Veronika. She is wearing the same pyjamas as she was photographed in when escaping the maternity ward.
Another image shows the beauty blogger with the baby and her partner, Yuri.
President Volodymyr Zelensky called the attack on the hospital a war crime which had left victims trapped in the rubble.
Following the Russian embassy’s tweets, Ms Vishegirskaya was targeted by pro-Russian online trolls and media channels who accused her of being an “actress”.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov described the global outrage about the attack as “pathetic” and claimed that Russia “never attacked Ukraine”.
Mariupol city council said the strike caused “colossal damage”, with footage showing burned out buildings, and a large huge crater where the bomb stuck the hospital grounds.
Mariupol Deputy Mayor Serhiy Orlov told the BBC: “We don’t understand how it’s possible in modern life to bomb a children’s hospital. People cannot believe that it’s true.”
Mr Orlov said he was “absolutely sure” the Russians knew they were attacking a children’s hospital.
It comes as Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence said Vladimir Putin is preparing a “terrorist attack” on the Chernobyl nuclear power station.
Officials said Russia is plotting a “man-made catastrophe” at the power station to then shift the blame on Ukraine in a supposed false flag operation to disguise its actions, but didn’t provide any evidence to back the allegation.
Mass graves are being used to bury bodies in cities that have been bombarded with relentless shelling by Russian troops.
Bodies wrapped in carpets and plastic bags were pictured being placed in a into a mass grave on the outskirts of Mariupol, which has been pounded by Russian forces for more than a week.
