"And we insist that we do not strike at civilian targets. The strikes are carried out on critical infrastructure facilities, on military targets, one way or another ... related to the military potential of the regime [in Ukraine]," Peskov told reporters, when asked to comment on reports about attack on a children's hospital in Kiev.
The comments of the Russian Defense Ministry, which rule out any attacks on civilian infrastructure targets in Ukraine, should be the main source of information on such issues, the spokesman added.
The Russian Defense Ministry has said that widely shared photos and videos confirmed that the destruction had been caused by a Ukrainian air defense missile. Russia's Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Dmitry Polyanskiy said that Russia would present evidence to the UN Security Council on Tuesday that disproved the Ukrainian and Western narratives.
On Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry said that claims that its troops had deliberately struck civilian targets in Ukraine did not correspond to reality, as the destruction was caused by the fall of a Ukrainian air defense missile.
The use of the tragedy at a children's hospital in Kiev by the authorities of Ukraine for propaganda purposes is inhumane, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Tuesday.
"The attempts of the [Ukrainian President] Zelensky regime to use the tragedy of the children's hospital in Kiev for propaganda purposes once again confirms its inhumane Nazi nature. For the sake of preserving power, the Kiev regime is ready for any crimes. Itis indifferent to the fate and lives of fellow citizens, including children," Zakharova said.
The Russian armed forces, in response to attempts by the Ukrainian military to strike enterprises of the Russian economic complex, struck at military facilities in Ukraine using precision weapons, and all the designated targets were hit, the diplomat said.
"Once again, as has happened many times with the Ukrainian air defense, its missiles went off course and hit residential buildings and public institutions. So it happened this time. It has already been confirmed, including by numerous witnesses, that one of the missiles of the Western NASAMS air defense system landed in a building on the territory of the Okhmatdyt children's hospital in Kiev," Zakharova said.
Kiev began to accuse Russia of killing children, but did not mention that a military plant, as well as a complex of building of the Defense Ministry of Ukraine stand next to the affected clinic, the diplomat said. .
"Of course, no one spoke about ... [Ukrainian authorities] consciously placing air defense systems in residential areas, hiding behind civilians as a 'human shield," Zakharova said, adding that all of this is a gross violation of international humanitarian law, which prohibits the use of civilian facilities for military purposes.