The Russian Federation denies the presence of a large number of civilians at the Azovstal plant in Mariupol and conducts this disinformation campaign to cover up another war crime, the Center for Counteracting Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine said.

 "The Center to Counteract Misinformation under the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine reports that enemy propagandists cynically deny the fact that a large number of civilians were at the Azovstal plant in Mariupol," the Center to Counteract Misinformation under the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine pointed out.

In the Center to counter disinformation pointed out that during the dissemination of the message about the beginning of the storming of the territory of the plant, the speaker of the so-called people's militia of the ORDO Basurin called "a fake information about the presence of civilians at Azovstal".

"Such a thesis was voiced despite dozens of statements by the top political leadership and the military, as well as hundreds of videos of children in the basements of Azovstal, spread on the network," added the CNSD CPD.

"At the same time, Russia's propagandists also do not pay attention to the fact that yesterday they also reported that at the Azovstal plant "fighters of the Azov battalion hold hostage civilians of various ages, including children," the Center pointed out.

"The Russian Federation is carrying out this disinformation campaign exclusively to conceal another war crime, for which it will have to answer before a tribunal," the CNSD Center noted.

Lieutenant Colonel Denis Prokopenko, commander of the Azov regiment, called on politicians of the entire civilized world to organize a "green corridor" in Mariupol to immediately evacuate civilians and wounded people. According to him, there are hundreds of civilians at the Azovstal plant, among them many children of different ages, women, elderly people and families of Mariupol defenders, who are hiding from the "Russian world" in basements and bomb shelters.