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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
William McGee & Ryan Merrifield

Ukrainian mum loses unborn child with hand and foot amputated after rocket strike

A Ukrainian mum lost her unborn child as well as a hand and foot in a rocket strike.

Kateryna Herman was seriously injured when Russian forces shelled her apartment building in Lyman in Donetsk, on May 1.

The 35-year-old, who was 12 weeks pregnant, was carried by her husband Konstantin to rescuers who took her to hospital in Sloviansk.

She lost a lot of blood and medics were forced to amputate part of one of her arms and legs.

Kateryna's remaining hand was also badly injured - and she had been hit in her baby bump by shrapnel.

Doctors fought to save her unborn child but nothing could be done.

Kateryna was carried to rescuers by her husband Konstantin (The First Medical Association of Lviv/Newsflash)

The patient was then transferred between various hospitals, first to Dnipro, then Kyiv, then Lviv.

From there was eventually to Sweden where she will receive prosthetics and undergo rehabilitation.

But Kateryna dreams of returning to Ukraine as soon as possible to take her six-year-old son Damir, who also survived the blast, to school in the autumn.

The mum lost her hand and foot (The First Medical Association of Lviv/Newsflash)

Zoriana Hasi, spokeswoman for the First Medical Association of Lviv, said: "The prognosis for Kateryna's condition is positive.

"She was visited by a Danish prosthetist, who gave a very optimistic prognosis about the leg prosthesis.

"Now the family is in Sweden, where she is cared for by many specialists."

The hospital said it did not know which unit or units of the Russian Armed Forces were behind the attack on the Herman family's apartment block.

Kateryna hopes to be able to take her son Damir, six, to school in the autumn (The First Medical Association of Lviv/Newsflash)

Ms Hasi added: "Kateryna really wants to return to Ukraine as soon as possible to take her son Damir to first grade.

"However, they do not yet know exactly where they will return to.

"What the family wants most now is good rehabilitation and a modern prosthesis so that Kateryna can walk, run and even paint."

The Herman family's hometown was eventually taken by pro-Russian forces in the weeks after she was injured.

The Donetsk People's Republic claimed full control of Lyman on May 27.

Before the invasion, the city had a population of over 20,000.

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