Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted a video on Twitter showing massive destruction at the large medical complex, including blown-out windows and internal walls ripped out, which he said was caused by a "direct strike by Russian troops".

He said that adults and children were "under the wreckage".

"So far there are 17 wounded personnel of the hospital," Kyrylenko, the head of the southeastern Donetsk region, said later in a video posted on Facebook.

He added that "so far no kids were wounded" and there have been "no deaths".

Kyrylenko said on Facebook that the attack "literally destroyed" a maternity hospital in the centre of the city that also included a paediatric unit.

He said that a Russian pilot evidently knew where the bomb would land.

Mariupol on the Azov Sea in southeastern Ukraine is surrounded by Russian forces, who have bombarded the city despite promises of a ceasefire to allow civilians to be evacuated.

Videos posted by Kyrylenko and the city authorities showed the evacuation of the hospital including a woman on a stretcher and a woman being supported by two men as she walks out.

They show a huge crater in the yard of the hospital, branches snapped from trees and burning cars, while cladding has been ripped from the building's facade.

Zelensky condemned the attack as an "atrocity" and called again for a no-fly zone to be imposed over the country. NATO has refused to do this.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also condemned the attack, saying: "There are few things more depraved than targeting the vulnerable and defenceless."

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