A pregnant woman whose photo was shared widely after she was pictured being stretchered away from a maternity ward destroyed in a Russian airstrike has died along with her baby. The woman was in a hospital in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol when it came under aerial bombardment, burying women and children under the rubble. The attack on the hospital, which would be a war crime if proven to be deliberate, quickly attracted global condemnation. “There are few things more depraved than targeting the vulnerable and defenceless,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted after the attack. “The UK is exploring more support for Ukraine to defend against airstrikes, and we will hold Putin to account for his terrible crimes.”
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also took to Twitter to call on Western governments to respond to the attack by implementing a no-fly zone over Ukraine — a measure NATO has so far resisted as it would require their troops to directly engage with the Russian military. “Direct strike of Russian troops at the maternity hospital,” Zelenskyy wrote. “People, children are under the wreckage. Atrocity! How much longer will the world be an accomplice ignoring terror? Close the sky right now! Stop the killings! You have power but you seem to be losing humanity.”The woman, who has not been named, was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she eventually succumbed to her injuries. Soon after, her baby died following an unsuccessful emergency caesarean section. Medics reportedly said that as the woman realised her baby would not live, she shouted, “Kill me now!”Her body was eventually collected by family members before doctors could get her name.