Little Liza, the latest innocent killed by Putin’s war machine
Down’s girl, 4, slaughtered by missile fired from sub
ToTTering along in bright white trainers as she pushes her buggy along a pavement, a fouryearold girl smiles innocently into her mother’s phone.
Moments later, she became the latest victim of Vladimir Putin’s vicious invasion of Ukraine, in a city hundreds of miles from the frontline.
The last carefree seconds in the life of Liza, who had Down’s syndrome, were captured in a harrowing video clip.
Her fate was sealed when a volley of Kalibr cruise missiles, launched from a russian submarine more than 200 miles away in the Black Sea, rained down on the quiet Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia.
Situated 150 miles south-west of Kyiv with a population of 375,000, it is closer to Poland than the disputed eastern regions where the war is being fought, and until yesterday it had been spared its worst horrors. There is no military infrastructure near the spots where the missiles landed.
But at 10.50am local time the rockets struck an office block and residential buildings, which then burst into flames. Liza was believed to be among 20 fatalities, who included two other children.
Pictures too shocking to be published showed her remains on the street. Her trainers and her pink buggy were easily recognisable among the devastation.
Some reports suggested her mother irina Dmitrieva was clinging to life in hospital last night. She was among 90 victims wounded in the blasts.
She was said to be deeply proud of her Liza’s determination to overcome her disabilities, which included arthritis. in one social media post, she told how the pandemic had stopped her arranging a birthday party for her daughter.
She wrote: ‘it was Covid-19, then it was the war. i am hoping her fifth birthday will give us a chance. i am scared to make wishes. i just dream about peace.’
Last night, Un Secretary- genflict eral Antonio guterres strongly condemned the strike. A spokesman said he was ‘appalled by today’s missile attack against the city of Vinnytsia’.
Ukrainian officials called the onslaught ‘more evidence of genocide’. President Volodymyr Zelensky announced: ‘Cruise missiles hit two community facilities. Houses were destroyed, a medical centre was destroyed.
‘The cars and trams were on fire. This is an act of russian terror. every day russia kills civilians, kills Ukrainian children, carries out missile attacks where there is no military target. What is this, if not an open act of terrorism?’
Despite overwhelming evidence, russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilians and last night there was no Kremlin comment on the Vinnytsia attack.
Until yesterday it was among the many Ukrainian cities where life has remained remarkably normal, its buildings untouched, its schools open.
But this peace was shattered by the missile attack. Many locals, unaccustomed to the sound, ignored sirens which wailed a warning moments beforehand.
The attack coincided with an international conference at the Hague aimed at prosecuting war crimes in Ukraine.
The UK pledged £2.5million to train prosecutors who will try to bring the perpetrators to justice. Some suspects are already in custody, awaiting charges. They are likely to appear before judges in Ukraine or before the international Criminal Court.
But there are many more still at large, including the military chiefs and politicians, Mr Putin included, who have directed the bloodshed.
Western officials said yesterday that 21,912 war crimes were currently under investigation in a conflict where 6,237 civilians have already died, including 348 children. Some 650 children have been injured and 26,000 civilian targets destroyed.
Meanwhile, two more russian colonels killed in the Ukraine con
‘Every day Russia kills our civilians’
‘A medical centre was destroyed’
were named yesterday.
The funeral was held yesterday of Lt-Col Valentin Danilov, 37, who died in a rocket attack in Donetsk. He had commanded a military unit based in the Siberian city of Vladikavkaz.
Also buried yesterday was riot police colonel igor Murzin, whose death at the start of the war had not been previously announced. His body was finally repatriated this month before yesterday’s funeral ceremony in Kemerovo, also in Siberia.
Their deaths take the toll of russian colonels to die in the war to 76, along with 12 generals.