From birthday cake to brutal troops, 8-year-old’s Mariupol diary sketches
THE heartbreaking diary of an eight-year-old boy has given a child’s insight into the horrors of life in the wartorn city of Mariupol.
It contains sketches of flattened houses and tower blocks ablaze as bodies litter the ground.
Soldiers with guns are shown clashing beside a tank with a helicopter flying above. By contrast, another sketch depicts birthday party celebrations.
The unnamed boy, who hails Mariupol as ‘the beloved city’, writes sadly: ‘My two dogs and grandmother Galya died.’
Next to the number three, which appears to be the date, he writes: ‘I slept well. Woke up. Smiled. Got up.’ But by number 25 – thought to be March or April 25 – the siege on the city had taken its toll. He says: ‘My grandfather died.’
The next day he adds: ‘I have a wound on my back. My sister’s skin is torn out. Mom has a head injury. Flesh on my arm and a hole in my leg.’ The boy, who says he has a sister, 15, and a mother, 38, explains: ‘You have to make a dressing. Mom is the first, I am the second, the third is my sister.’
Then he says: ‘By the way, I have a girlfriend. Vika is funny. She is our neighbour. She has good parents.’
The name of the boy and what has happened to him since remain unknown. The diary was found by Mariupol photographer Evgeny Sosnovsky. The city has been under attack since the early days of the war. Around 100,000 people are said to be trapped, including dozens of children inside the Azovstal steel plant.
Ukraine has claimed that Russian forces have killed more than 600 children since the invasion started.