A six-year-old girl died alone in her own home in Mariupol from dehydration after spending several days with no water, power, or heating supplies.
The Mariupol's City Council said that Russia had bombarded Mariupol the past weekend, cutting off water, heat, and power supply in the port city of around 400,000 people. The Russian forces also prevented emergency services from reaching places attacked.
Alone, exhausted, frightened, and thirsty
According to the Sun, the rescuers found the Girl eight days after the shelling, as she was trapped under her collapsed home.
The mayor said that Tanya was "alone, exhausted, frightened, and terribly thirsty at the last minutes of her life." Mariupol has no water, heating, electricity, or mobile connection.
Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boichenko said he could not say how long the six-year-old Tanya fought for her life. "We cannot imagine how much suffering an innocent child had to endure."
Ukrainian MP Lesia Vasylenko posted a series of tweets, saying, "Her name is Tanya. She is eight. She lost her mother and was alone."
Her succeeding post said, "Eight days without food or water. This is f***ing genocide."
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that it is unacceptable that a child could die of dehydration in the 21st century. The president announced the death this morning through a video address to Ukrainians.
Status of Mariupol
Mariupol has around 430,000 people and is the country's 11th biggest city. The city was the first city attacked by Russia, days after its President, Vladimir Putin, recognized the independence of two breakaway regions.
Mariupol's Deputy Mayor said they are burying the dead in mass graves. Last week, Mariupol's city council said that Russian forces broke their food supplies and set up blockades. He added the Russian troops are also deliberately destroying Mariupol's critical life-support infrastructure for the past seven days.
The city has no light, water, or heat and remains under fire. The city council revealed that women, children, and the elderly are suffering and described Russia's actions as the "genocide of the Ukrainian people."
Plans to evacuate civilians from Mariupol
Ukraine will evacuate civilians from six besieged cities, including Mariupol, where people described the conditions as "apocalyptic," the country's deputy prime minister said.
The Ukrainian forces would hold their fire in areas concerned during a 12-hour window, from 9 AM to 9 PM local on Wednesday. The deputy prime minister also appealed to Russian forces to observe their official public commitment.
The appeal came as Ukraine has accused Russia of breaking the promise of a humanitarian corridor, shooting missiles at civilians three times.
The international community condemned Russia after its soldiers reportedly failed to respect humanitarian corridors leading civilians away from Ukraine.
International aid groups are most concerned about the successful evacuation of residents of Mariupol, where thousands have been sheltering from shelling and missile attacks since February 24.
