Fate of Ukrainian Pregnant Women Gets Grimmer as Russia Continues Ukraine Attacks

On Monday, the Ukraine Ministry said the pregnant woman in the picture carried from a Ukrainian maternity hospital following the attack of Russian forces has died along with her unborn baby, Aljazeera reported.

The unnamed woman was taken to an ambulance after the attacks on Mariupol on March 9. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said three people died in the attack, but it was unclear if the woman who recently died was among the death toll.

Saving the three pregnant women in Mariupol

Timur Marin, the surgeon attending to the woman, told the Associated Press that the woman's pelvis had been crushed, and her hips were detached. The baby was delivered via cesarean section, but it already showed "no signs of life."

The woman stroked her bloodied left lower abdomen when the hospital was attacked as emergency workers carried her through the rubble. She was taken to another hospital, and doctors tried to save her. According to medics, when she realized that she was losing her baby, she cried out to them, "kill me now!"

The medical team tried to resuscitate the mother for 30 minutes, but it was in vain as both mother and child died.

The woman's father and husband retrieved their bodies from the hospital, saving them from being buried in the mass grave. The medics said they did not get the woman's name or any of their family members.

Meanwhile, an expectant mother, Mariana Vishegirskaya, in the same maternity hospital in Mariupol, gave birth to a girl on Thursday. The mother, who escaped during the shelling with minor injuries, named her baby Veronika.

Another woman that the AP documented lost her toes in the bombing. The medical workers performed a caesarian operation on the expectant mother on Friday. Medics rubbed her baby vigorously to stimulate any signs of life. After several moments, the baby started wailing. The medical staff cheered when the baby cried, and the mother and medical staff wiped their tears. The mother named her newborn baby Alana.

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Pregnancy in times of war

According to the United Nations Population Fund, there are around 240,000 pregnant women in Ukraine, and 80,000 of these women will be delivering babies soon. While many pregnant women will flee the country, those who cannot leave are forced to give birth in bomb shelters.

The U.S. intelligence officials believed that Russia would be doubling its attacks in the coming weeks, making the future for expectant moms direr.

Jaime Nadal, a United Nations Population Fund representative currently in Ukraine, told Today that the situation for pregnant moms is worsening.

Hospitals are running their services in the basement of hospitals, and it is in very short supply of medicines and supplies. Nadal said that replenishing the supplies is "extremely challenging" as no humanitarian corridors are still in place.

He also said that the pregnant women were in shock. Many are under stress for days as they escape their cities to find a place with safer conditions. Most would arrive in poor physical condition. In Western Ukraine, deliveries have increased and are associated with complications.

Nadal said their organization gives out emergency kits for pregnant moms trapped in Ukraine.

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