The Ukrainian invasion’s personal toll was captured in a heartbreaking image of a father weeping over his dead son, a bloodstained sheet obscuring the body surgeons were unable to save from damage inflicted by Russian shells.
The 16-year-old, whose name was Iliya, was caught in an airstrike’s blast while playing soccer as Russian forces besieged the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported. His father convulsed in grief, clutching his son’s lifeless head in an image embodying the growing civilian casualties of Russia’s aggression.
UKRAINE AND RUSSIA ESTABLISH HUMANITARIAN CORRIDORS FOR CIVILIAN EVACUATION
Russian forces have encircled but not yet taken Mariupol, according to the United Kingdom’s defense minister.
“Mariupol remains under Ukrainian control but has likely been encircled by Russian forces,” the Ministry of Defense said on Friday. “The city’s civilian infrastructure has been subjected to intense Russian strikes.”
On Wednesday, when Iliya was fatally wounded, airstrikes had already crippled the city’s phone service. Medics rushed around Mariupol looking for the wounded but were unsure where to take them since they were unable to communicate with hospitals.
Kherson, another important port city, is believed to be the first city to fall to Russia. The mayor announced Thursday that Ukrainian forces were no longer within the city and urged enemy troops not to shoot at civilians.
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Though civilians are increasingly becoming casualties of the war, estimates as to how many have been killed vary widely. The Ukrainian government claimed that 2,000 civilians were dead, while the United Nations said only 136 were killed. Over a million Ukrainians have fled to the west since the invasion began last week.
