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Pregnant woman, baby among those killed after Russia bombed Ukrainian maternity hospital

Russia Ukraine War hospital airstrike
Posted at 11:52 AM, Mar 14, 2022
and last updated 2022-03-14 12:52:13-04

MARIUPOL, Ukraine — A wounded pregnant woman who was seen being carried on a stretcher from a bombed maternity hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, last week has died, along with her baby.

Photos and video of the woman taken by The Associated Press on Wednesday showed her being rushed to an ambulance. Doctors said she suffered a crushed pelvis and could not be saved. Her baby, delivered by cesarean section, also died.

Another pregnant woman, Mariana Vishegirskaya, who was seen walking from the hospital in polka-dot pajamas, gave birth Thursday to a baby girl named Veronika.

The mother described the moment the maternity ward was bombed.

"We were lying in wards when glass, frames, windows and walls flew apart,” Vishegirskaya said.

Russia Ukraine War Maternity Hospital bomb
Mariana Vishegirskaya walks downstairs at a maternity hospital damaged by shelling in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 9, 2022. Vishegirskaya survived the shelling and later delivered a baby girl in another hospital. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

The Russian attack on the hospital represented one of the most brutal moments yet in the weeks-long war. In the hours after the bombing, Ukraine said that three people had died and more than a dozen had been injured.

While Ukraine and its allies have accused Russia of attacking innocent civilians, Russia has maintained that far-right radical fighters were using the hospital as a base. Russian officials have falsely claimed The Associated Press images were fabricated.