On 9 March 2022, the Russian Air Force bombed Maternity Hospital No 3, a hospital complex functioning both as a children's hospital and maternity ward in Mariupol, Ukraine,^[1] during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, killing at least four people and injuring at least sixteen, and leading to at least one stillbirth.^[2]

Quick Facts Location, Coordinates ...

Mariupol hospital airstrike
Part of the Siege of Mariupol
Hospital in Mariupol after airstrike
Location	Mariupol, Ukraine
Coordinates	47.09645°N 37.53373°E / 47.09645; 37.53373
Date	9 March 2022
Deaths	4 + 1 stillbirth
Injured	at least 17
Perpetrators	Russian Air Force

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Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy,^[3] Josep Borrell, the European Union head of Foreign Affairs,^[2] and British armed forces minister James Heappey^[4] described the bombing as a war crime. On 10 March, the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defence claimed that bombing of the hospital was justified by the supposed presence of Ukrainian armed forces^[5][6] at Mariupol Maternity Hospital No 1, as stated by Russian UN representative Vasily Nebenzya earlier, on 7 March.^[1][7] Several media organizations dismissed the Russian claims as false.^[8]

An OSCE report concluded the airstrike was a Russian war crime.

In 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian and pro-Russian forces set siege to the city. It was eventually agreed between Russian and Ukrainian authorities to allow civilians to evacuate from Mariupol and four other Ukrainian towns on 9 March 2022 in a humanitarian corridor.^{[9][needs update]}

A children's and maternity hospital in Mariupol (Maternity Hospital No 3^[1]) was bombed several times by Russian forces from the air during the ceasefire.^[9][10]

Ukrainian authorities described the damage to the hospital as "colossal". Video footage following the attacks showed "much of the front of the building ... ripped away" and "mangled cars burning outside".^[9] Hospital wards were "reduced to a wreckage, walls had collapsed, rubble covered medical equipment, windows were blown out and shattered glass was everywhere".^[10]

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that people had "hidden" from the attack in time, minimising the number of casualties.^[3]

On 9 March 2022, the Donetsk Oblast governor stated that 17 people, including women in labour, were injured in the bombing.^[9][11] "Women, newborns and medical staff were killed" according to neurologist Oleksandra Shcherbet.^[10] On 10 March, local authorities stated that one girl and two other people had been killed in the bombing.^[2]

Irina Kalinina,^[12] a pregnant woman photographed in the bombing was moved to another hospital and died after her child was stillborn. She had suffered numerous injuries in the bombing, including a crushed pelvis and detached hip, which contributed to the stillbirth of her child.^[13] The doctors operated on them by candlelight.^[14]

Another pregnant woman photographed in the bombing, Marianna Vyshegirskaya (née Podgurskaya), a popular Instagram blogger,^[1] gave birth to a daughter the following day.^[15] In early April, Vyshegirskaya filmed an interview in which she said that the hospital was not hit with an airstrike but rather "shelling", which the Associated Press described as contradicted by evidence.^[16] Vyshegirskaya gave an interview to the BBC in May, where she said that the hospital was working and that no Ukrainian military was stationed in the maternity building, contradicting Russian claims that the hospital was not functional and had been taken over by soldiers.^[17]

Josep Borrell, the European Union head of Foreign Affairs, described the bombing as a war crime.^[2] James Heappey, British Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Armed Forces, said that whether hitting the hospital was indiscriminate fire into a built-up area or a deliberate targeting, "it [was] a war crime".^[4] Ukrainian leaders have echoed similar sentiments.^[3]

On April 13, 2022, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) published a report which covered the Mariupol hospital airstrike, confirming the maternity house was clearly identifiable and operational, and that the Russian forces therefore perpetrated a war crime.

The Mission therefore concludes that the hospital was destroyed by a Russian attack. Based upon Russian explanations, the attack must have been deliberate. No effective warning was given and no time-limit set. This attack therefore constitutes a clear violation of IHL and those responsible for it have committed a war crime.^[31]

• Mariupol theatre airstrike - one week later, an attack on a civilian air raid shelter containing women and children in the same city
• Russian-Syrian hospital bombing campaign - Similar attacks perpetrated by the Russian forces in the Syrian civil war
• Kunduz hospital airstrike