The toll of civilian victims of the war in Ukraine continues to grow. This Tuesday, a six-year-old child died of dehydration under the ruins of her destroyed house in Mariupol, in the south-east of the country. The city is besieged by the Russian army.
It is not known how long the girl, named Tanya, was trapped alive in the ruins, where her mother was also found dead. “In the last minutes of her life, (Tanya) was alone, exhausted, scared and terribly thirsty. This is just one of the many stories happening in Mariupol, which has been facing a blockade for eight days,” the mayor of the city, Vadim Boichenko, wrote on the municipality’s Telegram channel.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also spoke about the death of the child in a video broadcast Tuesday morning, once again calling on Western countries to help Ukraine in its fight against Russia. “Mariupol is surrounded, blocked, she is being exhausted, tortured,” he said. “For the first time in decades, perhaps for the first time since the Nazi invasion, a child died of dehydration. Listen to me today, dear partners! A child died of dehydration in 2022! »
300,000 civilians stuck in Mariupol
Some 300,000 civilians have been pinned down for days by the fighting in the strategic port of Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov, deprived of water, food and electricity and where humanitarian aid has not been able to arrive. Several evacuation attempts have already failed several times in recent days, both sides rejecting responsibility.
The capture of this city of strategic importance would allow the junction between the Russian forces coming from Crimea, which now threaten Mykolaiv, further west, and the separatist and Russian troops in the Donbass.