Happy, four-year-old Liza pushes a pink wheelbarrow, while mum films with her mobile phone. Shortly afterwards, Russian rockets rain over Vinnytsia.
Less than 20 minutes ago
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After attacked Thursday which took at least 23 lives in the Ukrainian city southwest of Kyiv, the pram lay overturned and bloody on the sidewalk.
Ukrainian authorities confirmed on Friday that Liza is one of three children who died. The condition is critical for mother Iryna Dmytriyeva.
The video of Liza stabbing just before the tragedy occurred was posted on her Instagram account «l.i.z.i.love».
The account is Iryna’s testimony of her daughter’s love.
Liza had Down syndrome. On Thursday, mother and daughter were on their way to a speech therapist, who was to teach her to pronounce her first words.
Speech therapist Alyona Korol says New York Times that the four-year-old went by the name “sunflower” at the center Logoclub.
She always smiled.
Recognized the shoes
When the news of the attack on Vinnytsia flickered across the screen on Thursday, Korol noticed two green sneakers in the photos.
– When I saw the shoes, I recognized them. I knew it was our Liza.
–A spokesman for Ukraine’s security service, Denys Zakabluk, confirmed to the New York Times that Liza was dead.
The mother is among 80 who after the attack are being treated for injuries in hospital.
The rockets struck in the heart of the city in the middle of the day. A mall, a dance studio and a center for disabled children were hit and set on fire.
– Look at her
Ukraine’s first lady Olena Zelenska wrote on Twitter that she recognized Liza from a video she had filmed with children at Christmas 2021.
– The little girl managed to color not only herself and her dress, but also all the other children, me, the cameramen and the director in half an hour.
The first lady has shared the video on Instagram.
– Please, look at her. Alive.
Her husband Volodymyr Zelensky accuses Russia of war crimes.
“No other state in the world allows itself to destroy peaceful cities and human lives with cruise missiles and artillery rockets every single day,” the president said on Thursday.
–Far from the front
Vinnytsia is located several hundred kilometers from the front in Russia’s war against Ukraine. Iryna Dmytriyeva and her daughter moved there from the capital Kyiv earlier this year.
– I’m so glad I’m a role model for my child. She imitates everything I do, Iryna writes in an Instagram post a few days ago.
On the social network, she has shared joys and worries and her thoughts on living with a developmentally disabled child.
– Love yourself! Let your dreams come true! The mood spreads very well to others, especially to your own child.
–The rockets were fired from a Russian submarine in the Black Sea, according to a statement from the Ukrainian presidential office.
– Weapons meeting was the goal
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday that the target of the missiles was an office building in Vinnytsia, where the Ukrainian military allegedly had a meeting with “representatives of foreign arms dealers”.
Moscow claims that the attack eliminated the meeting participants. This claim could not be verified, according to the New York Times.
Russia maintains that its forces are only attacking military targets.
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