Photo: AP
According to reports, a pregnant woman who was photographed fleeing from the debris of a hospital hit by Russian strikes has successfully delivered a baby girl.
The picture of a near-due pregnant Mariana Vishegirskaya, her face full of blood, climbing down the steps full of broken debris, circulated the media. The attack had cost three lives and angered many.
She gave birth the day after that incident, her niece in Turkey said to local media. The baby had been named Veronika, said Ukraine’s ambassador to the UN Sergiy Kyslytsya.
Holding up a photo of Vishegirskaya and her newborn baby, Kyslytsya condemned “Russian lies” about her during his remarks at the UN. Vishegirskaya was a topic of the Russian disinformation campaign after the strike.
A tweet from the Russian embassy in the UK stated that Vishegirskaya was an actress and that the bombing was staged to look natural.
However, evidence has been found which discovered facts opposed to the baseless claims, which includes that she had, in some way, played as different women captured by a camera in the scene.
Twitter later took down the Russian embassy’s tweet, stating they violated rules “related to the denial of violent events.”
Another claim posted online indicated that Virshegirskaya was not even with child. But the beauty blogger announced her pregnancy to her followers in January—mere weeks prior to the invasion—and had, in fact, made followers guess the gender of the baby.
On Friday afternoon, Kyslytsya printed the photo of Vishegirskaya, announcing to those present that he brought “very good news.”
“Miss Mariana, the pregnant woman gave birth to a healthy daughter last night. Her name is Veronika. Here she is with her father. No matter what the Russian lies are about herself, her family, and the incident,” he remarked.
He further informed that over 1,500 people have died in Mariupol, which still has no food, water, heat, or power after the blockade due to Russian forces refusing to cease fire for civilian evacuation.
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