Doctor unable to save Ukrainian girl wounded in Russian shelling says: "Show this to Putin"

Ukrainians resist as Russian forces push toward major cities

In the port city of Mariupol, where Ukrainians are trying to fend off a Russian advance, an ambulance raced into a city hospital Sunday carrying a 6-year-old girl mortally injured in Russian shelling.

She was pale. Her brown hair was pulled back with a rubber band. Her bloody pyjama pants were decorated with cartoon unicorns. She was brought in with her wounded father, his head bloodied and bandaged.

A medical team pumped her chest, fighting desperately to revive her. Her mother stood outside the ambulance, weeping.

A woman reacts as paramedics perform CPR on a girl who was injured during shelling, at city hospital of Mariupol, eastern Ukraine, Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022. The girl did not survive. Evgeniy Maloletka / AP

"Take her out! Take her out! We can make it!" a hospital worker shouted, pushing a gurney to the ambulance.

The girl was raced inside and doctors and nurses huddled around her. One gave her an injection. Another tried to revive her with a defibrillator. A nurse wept. A doctor in blue medical scrubs, pumping oxygen into her, looked straight at the camera of an Associated Press video journalist who had been allowed inside.

"Show this to Putin," he said angrily. "The eyes of this child, and crying doctors."

Medics perform CPR on a girl at the city hospital of Mariupol, who was injured during shelling in a residential area in eastern Ukraine, Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022. The girl did not survive. Evgeniy Maloletka / AP

The girl, whose name was not immediately known, could not be saved. The doctor reached gently over her face to close her eyes.

Her body was left alone in the room, covered by her brightly colored polyester jacket, spattered with blood.

Ukraine's Ministry of Internal Affairs said that as of Sunday evening, 352 civilians had been killed, including 14 children. The agency said 116 children were among 1,684 wounded civilians.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian and Russian delegates arrived Monday for the first direct negotiations between the two countries since Russia launched its invasion five days earlier. While the talks brought tentative hope for an end to the war, Ukraine's president made it clear before the discussion began that he wasn't expecting any major breakthrough. 

Russia would not clarify its aims for the meeting, but CBS News' Haley Ott reported that Ukraine's key demands were an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine.

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