11:33 a.m .: At the Zaporozhye hospital, children evacuated from the Mariupol region are fighting for their survival
At the children’s hospital in Zaporozhye, in southern Ukraine, Milena, 13, is writhing in pain. Face lacerated from cheek to neck, this teenage girl with brown hair tied in pigtails is trying to recover from a bullet that lodged in her neck, damaging her mouth, tongue and several vertebrae.
She was injured as she and her family attempted to leave Mariupol, the strategic port on the Sea of Azov that Russian forces have been shelling and besieging since late February, her mother is quick to explain. Their car, like most vehicles evacuating the city, carried a sign marked “children”.
Located some 250 km northwest of Mariupol, the hospital receives children from eastern and southern Ukraine. In the bed next to Milena, five-year-old Vladislav is between life and death. He was shot in the abdomen as his family fled advancing Russian forces towards their village of Polohy, between Mariupol and Zaporozhye.