Mariupol
Her picture went around the world: pregnant woman dies after Russian attack on hospital
The woman did not survive the attack on the maternity hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine
© Evgeniy Maloletka/AP/DPA
The image of a heavily pregnant woman being rescued from the rubble became a symbol of the brutal Russian attack on a Mariupol maternity hospital. Neither she nor her child survived the bombardment.
A pregnant woman is being carried away on a stretcher, she is holding her stomach, her gaze seems absent. In the background you can see the rubble of a house that was badly hit by a bomb attack. The Russian army had bombed a maternity hospital in the port city of Mariupol on the Azov Sea last week.
As the AP news agency reports, the woman did not survive the attack. According to the report, she was transferred to another hospital, but the doctors there failed to save her life. According to a surgeon, the woman suffered serious injuries, her pelvis was crushed and her hip severed. The unborn child was also born dead.
The unborn child did not survive either
Doctors had brought the child into the world by caesarean section, but the baby showed “no signs of life,” says the surgeon. AP reports dramatic scenes that are said to have taken place before: When the woman realized she was about to lose her child, she begged the doctors to let her die and save the baby.
After the caesarean section, the doctors tried to save the life of the pregnant woman, but all attempts at resuscitation were unsuccessful. After 30 minutes, the doctors gave up the resuscitation measures. The woman’s body was taken by her father and husband, the AP reports.
Attack on clinic in Mariupol causes horror
The attack on the Mariupol maternity hospital sparked global outrage. US President Joe Biden’s spokeswoman Jen Psaki spoke of the “barbaric use of military force against civilians”. Moscow, on the other hand, claims that there were no longer any medical staff in the clinic. The building was said to have been a camp for ultra-radical fighters from the Ukrainian Azov Battalion. The United Nations and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy rejected this account.
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According to Ukrainian Health Minister Viktor Lyashko, seven hospitals have already been irreparably destroyed since the beginning of the war. More than 100 other health facilities were damaged. Lyashko said that among the medical staff there have been six dead and twelve injured since the Russian troops invaded on February 24, 2022.
Swell: AP / DPA