The bloody face of the pregnant woman, whose bulging belly sought refuge in the Mariupol maternity hospital after the Russian attack had made the rounds, sparking worldwide outrage.
19-year-old Marianna Vishegirskaya[/B] became known as the pregnant of Mariupol who gave birth to a healthy baby girl just hours after the attack. In fact, the Russian embassy in Britain had accused the 19-year-old of being an actress and the scars from her injury were due to make-up.
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In her news interview however with Russian media she disputes that there was an airstrike. She and her family appear to have been among the civilians evacuated to either Russia or a separatist-controlled area of Donetsk. The Ukrainian government had denounced the evacuation of Ukrainian civilians into Russian territory.
As she claims in a video posted on Telegram, there was never an airstrike, and she believes it was more likely a mortar attack. In fact, she says, Ukrainian soldiers had turned the hospital into a military base and says Associated Press reporters were there from the beginning and filmed her against her will.
In fact, she accuses the reporters of cutting out parts of an interview in which she revealed that no one in the maternity hospital heard an airstrike and bombing, only two explosions. She also revealed that Ukrainian soldiers had taken over the hospital and turned it into a military base.
"The bombing took place on March 9, at hospital number 3 in Mariupol," she had said in an interview with the Guardian. "We were lying in the wards when glass, shrapnel, windows and walls were thrown out," she described."
Marianna Visimirskaya's full testimony:
My name is Marianna Visimirskaya and before the war I lived in Donetsk. Then I met my husband and we decided to get married.
That's how I found myself in Mariupol in 2020, just before the quarantine.
When the war started, the majority of people thought that although it was scary, nothing terrible would happen to us and we would get through it.
When the war started to escalate, people started to panic, but you couldn't leave, you weren't allowed to. The wife of a friend of my husband's tried to leave but she fell on a landmine.
On March 6 we decided that I had to go to the maternity hospital to give birth. We went to ward 3.
At some point Ukrainian soldiers came and demanded that everyone leave. They said that more soldiers would come soon and turn the hospital into their military base because the hospital had solar generators.
All the dying women were taken to a ward that had only one small generator that was used for an extracorporeal circulation oxygenation circuit. The women's husbands lived on the ground floor and set up a makeshift kitchen on the street so they could prepare food for us themselves.
The Ukrainian soldiers did not help in any way. They came only once to ask for food. They were told that the food is for women who are waiting to give birth or have already given birth, how can they ask for food? They said they haven't eaten for days and they took the food saying "you can cook more."
Before the explosion happened everything was calm, it was March 9 and the night before we had slept peacefully, we didn't hear any gunshots. On March 9, when we were talking about the social maternity program at the hospital, then we heard a big explosion and I threw a duvet over myself. Then we heard a second explosion and I was hit with glasses. I had superficial cuts on my nose, above my lips and on my forehead, nothing serious though.
Immediately we went downstairs and discussed whether it was an air raid. We were told that it was indeed an air raid, but neither we nor they had heard any planes. We were told anyway that it was a bombing. After the first two explosions we didn't hear another explosion.
We sat down on the ground floor a bit more to make sure there would be no more explosions and immediately afterwards Ukrainian soldiers came and said they were ready to help us escape.
I was told to leave last because I had nothing serious and the blood running from my forehead would stop soon. I stayed there for about 15 minutes, looked out the window and then as I turned my head and saw a soldier in front of me in a helmet and then noticed he was holding something in his hands. I immediately realized that he was filming me.
I asked him to stop filming me with the camera as it was obviously not a good time for that. What was the point? He said "okay" and left.
But then as we were coming down from the first floor, we saw a reporter. It was him and he started filming me with the camera again. Other people told him to stop doing it, but he ignored all of us. We asked him again later and he left.
My husband noticed them better because they came back the next day. He told me they were from the Associated press news agency. They spoke Russian, they had military helmets and something written on their chests, I don't remember what.
The journalists were there from the beginning because when I saw the pictures later when I calmed down I understood exactly what was happening. They claimed I was lying under the quilt in different clothes, but that wasn't me, that was the woman who died. They took her first because she was in critical condition and in the end they couldn't even save her child. Her husband came afterwards crying on his knees. She was left without a family, without anything. So it wasn't me, it was this girl. They didn't make me change my clothes, they didn't put make up on me.
From what I understood the journalists were there from the beginning because it took 2-3 minutes to get down to the ground floor and then let's say we sat there for 10 minutes, so in total about 12 minutes. The girl who died came out first on a stretcher. As soon as she came out they started taking pictures of her. That means she was already there before. That's what I believe.
We were immediately transferred to another hospital and the next day after I gave birth by C-section, I was visited and I told my husband that these were the men who were filming me with cameras. He said "When? What? Where?", I explained to him what happened. They asked me if there was an air raid and I said "no, none of us even the people who were out on the streets never heard any planes."
When I was later able to see these interviews online, the part where we said we didn't hear any planes was nowhere to be found. I found everything but this interview.The photos of the terrified young girl went viral, and caused an international uproar against Russia, with Moscow calling her an "actress."
She appeared in Russian media, having apparently been among the civilians evacuated to either Russia or a separatist-controlled area of Donetsk. The Ukrainian government had denounced the evacuation of Ukrainian civilians into Russian territory.
"The bombing took place on March 9, at hospital number 3 in Mariupol," she had said in an interview with the Guardian. "We were lying on the wards when glass, shrapnel, windows and walls were thrown out," she described."
Source: Proto Thema
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