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Pregnant woman, baby killed as Russian soldiers bomb Ukrainian hospital maternity ward

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A pregnant woman and her baby have died after Russian troops bombed the maternity hospital in the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, where she was meant to give birth, according to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry.

According to a statement on Monday, the attack on the hospital on Sunday, was another in a series of bombings of civilian locations by the Russian troops which has seen more than 2,000 people, including women and children killed as the Russian invasion enters the 19th day.

In photographs shared by the Ministry on its website, the injured woman is seen stroking her bloodied lower abdomen as rescuers rushed her through the rubble in the besieged city.

“The woman was rushed to another hospital, yet closer to the frontline, where doctors labored to keep her alive. Realizing she was losing her baby, she said “kill me now!”, the statement said.

READ ALSO: Russian troops abduct another Ukraine Mayor

A surgeon, Timur Marin, said he found the woman’s pelvis crushed and hip detached, while medics delivered the baby via cesarean section, but it showed “no signs of life,” Marin said.

“More than 30 minutes of resuscitation of the mother didn’t produce results. Both died,” he added.

“In the chaos after the airstrike, medics didn’t have time to get the woman’s name before her husband and father came to take away her body. At least someone came to retrieve her, so she didn’t end up in the mass graves being dug for many of Mariupol’s growing number of dead,” the Ministry said.

“In a city that’s been without food supplies, water, power or heat for more than a week, electricity from emergency generators is reserved for operating rooms.

“As survivors described their ordeal, explosions outside shook the walls. The shelling and shooting in the area is sporadic but relentless. Emotions are running high, even as doctors and nurses concentrate on their work,” it added.

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