iPhone | iPad
Android
Huawei
It comes as part of a series of events planned to be held in the run up to International Yoga Day set to be observed on June 21
KT APPDOWNLOAD
Russia-Ukraine crisis: Pregnant woman, baby die after maternity ward bombed
Medics delivered the baby via caesarean section, but it showed “no signs of life”
Photos: AP
A pregnant woman and her baby have died after Russia bombed the maternity hospital where she was meant to give birth, The Associated Press has learned. Images of the woman being rushed to an ambulance on a stretcher had circled the world, epitomizing the horror of an attack on humanity’s most innocent.
In video and photos shot Wednesday by AP journalists after the attack on the hospital, the woman was seen stroking her bloodied lower abdomen as rescuers rushed her through the rubble in the besieged city of Mariupol, her blanched face mirroring her shock at what had just happened. It was among the most brutal moments so far in Russia’s now 19-day-old attack on Ukraine.
The woman was rushed to another hospital, yet closer to the front line, where doctors laboured to keep her alive. Realizing she was losing her baby, medics said, she cried out to them, “Kill me now!”
Surgeon Timur Marin found the woman’s pelvis crushed and hip detached. Medics delivered the baby via caesarean section, but it showed “no signs of life,” the surgeon said.
Then, they focused on the mother.
“More than 30 minutes of resuscitation of the mother didn’t produce results,” Marin said Saturday.
“Both died.”
AP
In the chaos after Wednesday’s airstrike, medics didn’t have time to get the woman’s name before her husband and father came to take away her body. At least someone came to retrieve her, they said — so she didn’t end up in the mass graves being dug for many of Mariupol’s growing number of dead.
Russian officials claimed the maternity hospital had been taken over by Ukrainian extremists to use as a base, and that no patients or medics were left inside. Russia’s ambassador to the UN and the Russian Embassy in London called the images “fake news.”
Associated Press journalists, who have been reporting from inside blockaded Mariupol since early in the war, documented the attack and saw the victims and damage firsthand. They shot video and photos of several bloodstained, pregnant mothers fleeing the blown-out maternity ward, medics shouting, children crying.
The AP team then tracked down the victims on Friday and Saturday in the hospital where they had been transferred, on the outskirts of Mariupol.
In a city that’s been without food supplies, water, power or heat for more than a week, electricity from emergency generators is reserved for operating rooms.
As survivors described their ordeal, explosions outside shook the walls. The shelling and shooting in the area is sporadic but relentless. Emotions are running high, even as doctors and nurses concentrate on their work.
Blogger Mariana Vishegirskaya gave birth to a girl the day after the airstrike, and wrapped her arm around newborn Veronika as she recounted Wednesday’s bombing. After photos and video showed her navigating down debris-strewn stairs and clutching a blanket around her pregnant frame, Russian officials claimed she was an actor in a staged attack.
“It happened on March 9 in Hospital No. 3 in Mariupol. We were laying in wards when glasses, frames, windows and walls flew apart,” Vishegirskaya, still wearing the same polka dot pajamas as when she fled, told The AP.
AP
“We don’t know how it happened. We were in our wards and some had time to cover themselves, some didn’t.”
Her ordeal was one among many in Mariupol, which has become a symbol of resistance to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s drive to crush democratic Ukraine and redraw the world map in his favour. The failure to subordinate Mariupol has pushed Russian forces to broaden their offensive elsewhere in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the Azov Sea port city of 430,000, key to creating a land bridge from Russia to Russian-annexed Crimea, is slowly starving.
In the makeshift new maternity ward, each approaching childbirth brings new tension.
“All birthing mothers have lived through so much,” said nurse Olga Vereshagina.
One of the distraught mothers lost some of her toes in the bombing. Medics performed a C-section on her Friday, carefully pulling out her daughter and rubbing the newborn vigorously to stimulate signs of life.
After a few breathless seconds, the baby cries.
Cheers of joy resonate through the room. Newborn Alana cries, her mother cries, and medical workers wipe the tears from their eyes.
ALSO READ:
More news from
The emirate's handling of the Covid pandemic and the sweeping social reforms it had introduced were among the factors that bolstered its global reputation
The American, who last held a title in 2016 and has only fought sporadically since, is hoping to post a convincing victory over Bill Hutchinson
From Aamir Khan to Karan Johar and Sonakshi Sinha, these Bollywood personalities opted for a digital detox
The entire crew, including ground staff, were all women in this remarkable new initiative
Crescent Enterprises has placed sustainability at the heart of its operations, regularly reporting on its progress, showcasing its remarkable journey and commitment to sustainable growth and corporate responsibility
With consumers increasingly transforming their behaviours to be more environmentally friendly, businesses are under pressure to reveal the true extent of how sustainable their products are
There has been a growing demand for 'open days' among the youth who are looking to join the country's workforce and explore career opportunities