Kiev: A pregnant woman, whose viral images last week epitomised Russia’s brutality in Ukraine, has died along with her baby.
The woman was injured in the bombing of a maternity hospital in the city of Mariupol.
Last Wednesday, images captured the woman stroking her bloodied belly as rescue workers stumbled over rubble while carrying her out in a stretcher.
The woman was rushed to a hospital closer to the frontline, where doctors worked hard to keep her alive. “Kill me now,” she told the doctors after realising she would lose the baby, CBC reported.
Surgeon Timur Martin said the woman’s pelvis was crushed and hips detached, CBC quoted him. Medics brought out the baby by caesarean but “there was no sign of life”. The mother did not respond to resuscitation either, he said. The woman remained unidentified as her husband and father took away her body, news reports said.
At least 17 people were injured in an airstrike last week at the paediatric and maternity hospital in Mariupol.
Condemning the attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had said: “Today is the day that defines everything. It defines who is on which side. Russian bombs fell on a children’s hospital and maternity hospital in Mariupol.”
“Dropping a bomb on a maternity hospital — it’s the ultimate proof that what is happening is genocide of Ukrainians. Europeans, you can’t say you didn’t see what is happening. You have to tighten the sanctions until Russia can’t continue their savage war.”
Russia had justified the attack by claiming Ukraine had armed the hospital to use as a base. Russian authorities had dismissed the woman’s photos as “fake news”. AFP
