Now try to deny you’re targeting innocent children
THEY are pictures that will horrify the world – and skewer the lie that Vladimir Putin’s forces are not killing innocent civilians.
Many readers will be shocked, but we are publishing them so no one is left in any doubt about the indiscriminate killing in Ukraine. The images show a distraught Marina Yatsko, covered in blood, running into a hospital in besieged Mariupol on Friday.
Ms Yatsko’s boyfriend Fedor is carrying her 18-month-old son Kirill, wrapped in a blue blanket. The toddler was hit by shrapnel in a Russian artillery strike. Six doctors fought to save Kirill but were unable to resuscitate him. He is one of dozens of children to die since Putin’s forces invaded.
Another image shows Ms Yatsko embracing Kirill’s body as he lies on a bloodied stretcher. An exhausted doctor sits on the floor after the unsuccessful attempt to save the youngster’s life.
During a phone call with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz last week, Putin cynically denied that Russia was bombing Ukrainian cities.