A pregnant woman injured in the Russian bombing of a Ukrainian maternity and children’s hospital has died along with her baby.
Images had shown her being rushed to hospital on a stretcher following the airstrike on the hospital in Mariupol on Wednesday, which killed at least three others - including a child - and has been condemned as a war crime.
Widely-circulated pictures showed the woman stroking her bloodied lower abdomen as rescuers carried her through the rubble in the besieged port city.
Medics said she shouted “kill me now” when she realised she was losing her baby.
A surgeon said on Saturday both the child and mother had died.
Timur Marin, who treated the woman at another site after the one in Mariupol was destroyed, said her pelvis had been crushed and her hip detached during the airstrike on the hospital where she was meant to give birth.
He said medics delivered the baby via caesarean section but it showed “no signs of life”.
They then tried to resuscitate the mother for more than 30 minutes, but efforts were unsuccessful, Mr Marin said. “Both died,” the surgeon said.
The Independent is raising money for the people of Ukraine – if you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.
As well as killing several others, the deputy mayor of Mariupol said the attack on the 700-bed maternity and children’s hospital left 17 injured.
Sergei Orlov told BBC Breakfast the day after the bombing he was “absolutely sure” the bombing constituted a war crime.
Russia’s foreign minister dismissed international outcry over the hospital bombing as “pathetic” the day after the attack. He claimed Ukrainian forces had taken over the site and there were no patients there at the time of the airstrikes.
Ukraine said Russia committed “genocide” in its attack of the hospital.
The bombing took place during a ceasefire period meant to allow civilians to safely flee Mariupol, which had been under fire from Russian forces for days.
More than 2,500 residents of the Black Sea port city have been killed since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine more than two weeks ago, a Ukrainian presidential advisor said on Monday.
The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.
