Ukraine grants citizenship to Russian journalist who denounced war: 'I take the side of the victim'
Alexander Nevzorov spoke out about Mariupol maternity hospital shelling
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Ukraine has granted citizenship to a Russian journalist who fled the country after being accused by the Kremlin of spreading "deliberately false information" about Moscow’s armed forces, a report says.
Alexander Nevzorov, who left Russia with his wife in March, is now a citizen of Ukraine, a senior official there told Reuters on Friday.
"I take the side of the victim. And I am damn grateful to those tormented, desperate, bloodied people of Ukraine who allowed me to take my place among them," Nevzorov reportedly said in a Telegram post.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Russian state investigators, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, claimed that "on March 9, on [Nevzorov’s] public page in the social network Instagram banned in Russia and on March 19 on YouTube, he published deliberately false information about the deliberate shelling of a maternity hospital in the city of Mariupol by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation."
Bomb disposal experts from the Ukrainian State Emergency Service prepare for a controlled explosion of 1 ton of unexploded missiles, artillery shells and mines that they have retrieved during the last week in the Borodianka area on June 3, 2022, in Borodianka, Ukraine. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR REACHES 100 DAYS: BY THE NUMBERS
Nevzorov’s YouTube channel reportedly has more than 1.8 million subscribers.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Local civilians gather to receive pure water distributed by Russian Emergency Situations Ministry in Mariupol, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People's Republic, eastern Ukraine, on Friday, May 27. (AP/Alexei Alexandrov)
The hospital shelling in March produced one the most iconic images documenting the suffering of the Ukrainian people during the war – a pregnant woman being carried on a stretcher after being injured during the attack.
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Marianna Vishegirskaya stands outside a maternity hospital that was damaged by shelling in Mariupol, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 9, 2022. (AP Photo/Mstyslav Chernov, File)
She and the child did not survive.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Russia’s war in Ukraine has now lasted 100 days.