A distraught young Ukrainian mother collapsed in her boyfriend’s arms and cried “why, why, why?” after doctors were unable to save her toddler, hit in the head by shrapnel.
Kirill Yatsko, aged 18 months, was fatally injured after his home in the southern port city of Mariupol was shelled in the continuing Russian invasion.
Video footage captured his mother, Marina, and boyfriend Fedor rushing into a hospital with the unconscious child.
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Doctors put an oxygen mask over Kirill’s face and massage his chest as his heart appears to have stopped and a defibrillator is deployed.
But he cannot be saved, and a doctor sits on his haunches at the side of the room, looking down at the floor, trying to process what he has just witnessed.
Outside, in the corridor, Marina is inconsolable. She stands up, cries “why, why, why”, and turns to her boyfriend who, seeing she is not steady on her feet, takes her in his arms and holds her up as she cries on his shoulder.
Marina and Fedor go in to see Kirill, whose body is wrapped in a blanket.
His mother unfolds the blanket, gently touches her dead son’s cheek and kisses him, before pulling the cover back over his face.
Conditions in the hospital are bleak, staff there say, as the Russian attack on the encircled city continues.
“We continue working without electricity, weather, and heat,” said Dr Evgeniy Dubrov.
“We’ve worked more than a week without a break.”
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In addition to injured residents, servicemen are also being taken in at the hospital for treatment.
The Russian Defence Ministry said on Saturday it had agreed evacuation routes for Mariupol, and for the eastern city of Volnovakha, with Ukrainian forces.
But shelling continued in both areas, Ukrainian officials said later, and the planned evacuation for civilians was called off.
