A U.S. interview confronted the Russian foreign minister with UN-reported civilian casualty figures indicating at least 13,580 killed and 34,115 injured since February 2022. Nearly 50,000 civilians have been killed or injured, and specific strikes on maternity wards, churches, schools, hospitals, and a kindergarten were cited. The Russian foreign minister demanded sources, denied targeting civilian sites, and accused others of hitting churches and civilian settlements. He insisted Russian strikes focus on Ukrainian military sites and challenged the broadcaster to publicize proof with dates and addresses. The exchange was contentious and centered on evidence and attribution of strikes.
Lavrov responded by asking Welker to cite her source. Look, look, NBC is a very respectful structure, and I hope you are responsible for the words which you broadcast, Lavrov said. I ask you to send us or to publicize the information to which you just referred because we never targeted the civilian targets of the kind you cited. You might be mixing, you know, the information because it is a fact that quite a number of churches were purposefully hit by the Ukrainian regime.
Welker jumped back in. But what about your actions? Welker said. What about your actions, Mr. Foreign Minister? Look, we are going by circles, Lavrov said. I told you already what we mentioned repeatedly, that we never target civilian civilian sites, that we only attack the sites which are directly involved in the Ukrainian military machine which the West is trying to beef, beef up.
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