The pregnant woman pictured in Mariupol after the bombing of a children’s hospital and a maternity ward has died. The image of this future mother on a stretcher, her face pale and her hand resting on her bloody belly, had gone around the world.
Transported to another hospital, the woman had a fractured hip and pelvis. Realizing that she was losing her child, she allegedly shouted to the doctors “kill me now!” “.
Born by caesarean section, the baby showed no “signs of life”, said the surgeon in charge of childbirth, Timur Marin. Thirty minutes later, doctors declared the mother dead.
Her husband and father came to collect the body of the deceased before the doctors had time to ask her name.
“worst case scenario”
Described as a “war crime” by the European Union, Wednesday’s bombardment of the medical facility killed three people, including a child, and injured 17, according to the town hall of Mariupol.
A strategic port city located between Crimea and the Donbass, the city is plunged into an “almost hopeless” situation, lacking in food and deprived of water, gas, electricity and communications, Doctors Without Borders estimated on Friday. On Sunday, the International Committee of the Red Cross warned of a “worst-case scenario”, denouncing “tremendous human suffering”.
Another victim of the bombardment, Mariana Vishegirskaya, immortalized leaving the maternity ward in pajamas, her face stained with blood, gave birth to a baby girl, called Veronika, on Friday.
Marianna from Mariupol’s bombed hospital gave birth to a baby girl yesterday, her aunt told me. The baby is 3200 grams and is healthy. She was named Veronika – in honor of Nike, the goddess of victory. Victory of Ukraine.
Photos by Evgeniy Maloletka pic.twitter.com/oreJVHC91w
— Olga Tokariuk (@olgatokariuk) March 11, 2022
Influencer, the images of the Instagram account of the young woman had been used by the Russians to deny the attack on the maternity ward. The Russian Embassy in Greece had notably shared on Twitter the images of the two pregnant women, affixing the word “FAKE” to them in red, with, next to them, old photos of Mariana Vishegirskaya, without apparent signs of pregnancy, accusing her of posing as a pregnant woman in the photos of the Associated Press. Several journalists and media, here as elsewhere in the world, proved that this information was false.
With the Associated Press and Agence France-Presse