TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Russian Embassy in Jakarta has expressed concern over comments in Indonesian mass media accusing the country of carrying out an attack on a children's hospital in Kiev, including comments on a post by the Indonesian Foreign Ministry. The Russian Embassy said that these comments are based on false information actively propagated by Western countries.

"During special military operations, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation target only military facilities with powerful long-range weapons. Unlike Ukraine, Russia never fights civilians," the Russian Embassy in Jakarta said in a July 12 statement.

The embassy said that based on data from the Russian Federation Defense Ministry, the hospital in Kiev was destroyed because a Ukrainian air defense missile launched from the NASAMS anti-missile system fell and hit the building, with many photos and videos to prove it. Meanwhile, it said, NATO countries supporting Ukraine are carefully hiding these facts.

"What happened is the sole responsibility of the Ukrainian military, its mistakes and negligence were the cause of this tragedy," the press release said.

The Russian embassy said that this tragic event could have been avoided if the Kiev regime had not placed its air defense system in the middle of a civilian settlement, which clearly violates international humanitarian law norms prohibiting the use of civilian objects for military purposes.

Ukraine's Claims and Indonesia's Response

On July 9, Ukraine lowered flags to half-staff to mourn the deaths of 44 people, including four children and two people at Okhmatdyt Hospital, the largest children's hospital in Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities claimed the deaths were the result of a Russian airstrike on Monday, July 8.

The UN Human Rights Mission said there was a "high probability" that the hospital was directly hit by Russian missiles in a series of airstrikes on Kiev, Kryvyi Rih and other cities in Ukraine.

On July 11, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry posted on X that it "strongly condemns the attacks on civilian facilities in Ukraine, including children's hospitals, resulting in civilian casualties. While it did not mention Russia, the post received some comments, mostly accusing Russia of being behind the attack.

Russia's Rebuttal

The same day, the embassy said, Russia refuted Ukraine's claim. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation released information that a Ukrainian air defense missile launched from the NASAMS anti-missile system fell and hit a building.

"Unfortunately, the Indonesian side did not take this into account. Just as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia did not provide any comments on missile and artillery attacks on the territory of Russia, including the city of Belgorod and the city of Sevastopol, while as a result of the shooting there were many civilians, including children, who died," the embassy's statement read.

In the first week of July 2024, 137 Russian civilians were injured and 14, including children, were killed during the shelling of Russian territory by the Ukrainian military using defense equipment supplied by Western countries.

"Such information was deliberately ignored by Ukraine and Western countries, which is a clear manifestation of double standards: to accuse Russia of guilt without reason, while ignoring the crimes of the Kiev regime," the statement of the Russian Embassy read.

Concluding the statement, the Embassy expressed its hope that in the future it will be able to see an unbiased opinion from Jakarta, in keeping with the "well-balanced and impartial" policy towards the crisis in Ukraine, as declared by the government.

TEMPO.CO

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