Twitter Deletes Russian Embassy Tweet Claiming Maternity Hospital Bombing Was ‘FAKE’
Twitter removed a tweet from the Russian Embassy in the UK on Thursday for violating its “community guidelines” as the account claimed that a bombing at a maternity ward in Mariupol, Ukraine yesterday was staged.
Britain’s culture secretary, Nadine Dorries, slammed the tweet, saying, “This is fake news,” before it was taken down by the social media giant.
This is fake news. Reported via @DCMS https://t.co/3rK7cEGb2U
— Nadine Dorries (@NadineDorries) March 10, 2022
The Guardian reported Thursday, the “Russian embassy tweeted press pictures of the bombing, including that of an injured pregnant woman on the stairs, with the label ‘FAKE’ emblazoned across the post.”
The same account also claimed that one of the pregnant women seen in wire photos leaving the bombed-out hospital was a well-known beauty blogger and that the photo was staged.
Ukrainian officials report three people, including a six-year-old girl, died in the attack on the hospital, which has been denounced as a “war crime.”
The embassy replied to one user who posted the picture on Twitter and wrote “She is pregnant you mf !”
“She is indeed. 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,” the embassy’s tweet read.
🚨🇬🇧🇷🇺Outrage in the UK after Russian Embassy replies to a Tweet about #Ukraine: pic.twitter.com/ZBWEFq2W9n
— Terror Alarm (@terror_alarm) March 10, 2022
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also engaged in spewing wildly false information on Thursday, telling a press conference that “Russia never attacked Ukraine” and calling international condemnation of the attack on the hospital “pathetic.”
Observers and pundits were quick to denounce the Russian Embassy’s Twitter activity.
The Financial Times’ Polina Ivanova wrote, “The horrific, tragic pictures of a bombed out maternity ward, taken by the Associated Press, pregnant women covered in blood – all staged, just make up and actresses, the Russian embassy says.
And to think, someone actually sits and actually types that tweet. A human”
The horrific, tragic pictures of a bombed out maternity ward, taken by the Associated Press, pregnant women covered in blood – all staged, just make up and actresses, the Russian embassy says.
And to think, someone actually sits and actually types that tweet. A human pic.twitter.com/EHJA0TcAXh
— Polina Ivanova (@polinaivanovva) March 10, 2022
Some rare good news on here – Twitter has removed this tweet by the Russian Embassy claiming an injured Ukrainian pregnant woman was a crisis actor. https://t.co/e3GH5LgyVx pic.twitter.com/hTEd7o45un
— Chris York (@ChrisDYork) March 10, 2022
