The medical staff did everything to save the girl who suffered injuries in Russian shelling of the port city of Mariupol.
Trigger Warning: This story contains details of the death of a minor that may be disturbing to readers.
A 6-year-old girl from Ukraine has died after she was gravely injured when Russian forces shelled the port city of Mariupol on Sunday.
The girl, whose name was not immediately known, was rushed to a nearby hospital after the area was bombed. She was still in her bloodied pajama pants that were decorated with cartoon unicorns, according to a report by the Associated Press.
A 6-year-old girl, wearing 🦄unicorn pajamas, was killed by Putin’s 🇷🇺artillery shelling—an @AP photographer witnessed the death. An ambulance rushed the girl to a hospital in Mariupol 🇺🇦—Hospital workers had tears in their eyes as they struggled but failed to save her. Peace☮️🙏 pic.twitter.com/Ka5eJTEWYG
— Eric Feigl-Ding 💙💛 (@DrEricDing) February 28, 2022
Her father, who also sustained injuries from the attack was bleeding, stayed by her side in the ambulance as medical personnel tried to save her, pumping her chest as her mother stood outside of the vehicle sobbing.
“Take her out! Take her out! We can make it!” a hospital worker shouted, pushing a gurney to the ambulance.
While the medical staff did absolutely everything in their power to save the little girl, an angry male doctor told an AP photojournalist who was let inside the hospital, "Show this to Putin. The eyes of this child, and crying doctors."
Horrible conversation with the deputy mayor of Mariupol. Says residential areas heavily bombed, including his father's neighbourhood.
— Joel Gunter (@joelmgunter) March 2, 2022
"The situation is awful, we are near to a humanitarian catastrophe. We have been under more than 15 hours of continuous shelling without pause."
According to PEOPLE, the little one suffered severe injuries and couldn't be saved. Her body was left on a table in a hospital room, with her brightly colored jacket –also splattered with blood–draped over her.
Russia first invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, and the attacks still continue, with several lives lost as a result of the war—the first major land conflict in Europe in decades.
The invasion, ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin, has received widespread condemnation from around the world and increasingly severe economic sanctions against Russia have also taken place since.
While the attack continues, several countries from around the world have also pledged aid or military support to Ukraine as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pleaded for peace talks and urged his country to resist. However, Putin, who shows no signs of stopping, claims that Ukraine has historic ties to Russia and he is acting in the interest of so-called "peacekeeping."
What we know about war? Today I saw a big tragedy of one Ukrainian family which were injured an lost their child. #ukraine #war #invaision #russia #mariupol #apnews pic.twitter.com/IW2lweIad5
— Evgeniy Maloletka (@EMaloletka) February 27, 2022
"The prayers of the entire world are with the people of Ukraine," President Joe Biden said as the invasion began in force.
Disclaimer: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a developing story, and we’ll update as we learn more. Information is swiftly changing and Women Working is committed to providing the most recent and verified updates in our articles and reportage. However, considering the frequency in developments, some of the information/data in this article may have changed since the time of publication.
References:
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-europe-a8bb96288aaf70f9a7f70e9a4fac8160
Representative Cover Image Source: Getty Images | MattGush