On March 9, Russian troops fired on a hospital and maternity ward in Mariupol. This city in the Donetsk region remains under Russian siege. They did not allow the evacuation, while Ukrainian authorities reported the humanitarian catastrophe. After the shelling of the maternity hospital, 17 people were injured, three people, among them a child, died. Maryana is one of those who managed to escape. She was nine months pregnant and was due to give birth on that very day. Suspilne found out that on March 10, Maryana gave birth to a daughter - they named her Veronika. The girl was born weighing 3,2 kilos. At the same time, Russian accounts attack Maryana's social media. They accuse her of being an actress who took part in Ukrainian authorities' fake production.
The Russian authorities have admitted that they deliberately fired on the maternity hospital. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the Russian military fired on the building because the Azov Battalion is allegedly based there, and this is untrue. The photos from the scene show that civilians, including many mothers, were injured in the shelling. It should be noted that since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian army has killed more civilians than military personnel in Ukraine.
Suspilne spoke with Maryana's aunt Tetiana, who has no connection with Maryana's family now. Here is her direct speech.
Tetiana, Maryana's aunt:
I live in Bodrum, Turkey. I come from Mariupol and have lived there all my life. I got married and since then have resided in Turkey for many years. Maryana was due to give birth. Doctors set a date for March 9. Why was she hospitalized earlier? Due to the heavy shelling of Mariupol, neither an ambulance nor a car could move freely around the city. That's why she was placed in the nearest hospital, in the third hospital, which is in the city center. Nearby, there are children's and maternity hospitals. I had no information whether my relatives were alive. That's why I registered in all Mariupol chats in a telegram messenger. I was just tracking which houses had been bombed to know if my relatives were alive. There was no signal.
Then I saw that the maternity and children's hospitals were bombed. You can imagine my state. My heart was tearing apart. I thought Maryana was dead. An hour later, I saw her photo on social media. There are two pictures of her getting out of the hospital and the evacuation.
I did not know where they evacuated her due to constant shelling.
Somehow, the cell service appeared at the hospital today. Maryana's husband was with her, and he said she gave birth yesterday at 12:00. There was virtually no signal before that. He stayed on the line for literally a few seconds. He said that they were alive, and Maryana was evacuated. When he started to speak about the conditions, the connection broke. It's clear that she probably gave birth in a bomb shelter. The shelling is non-stop throughout the city.
It's a girl, and her name is Veronika - "the victorious".
Vishegirskaya survived the Russian airstrike on a children’s and maternity hospital in Mariupol last Wednesday.
Some thugs wrote comments under her posts that she is fake. Maryana has been a model before. Because of that, people decided that she was an actress, a model, that this was make-up on her face, her belly was fake and all this hate... they write that they've identified her, that they will tear her up, murder her. Now, I fear for her safety.
The shelling of Mariupol began on February 24. There was no possibility to take her somewhere away. You know she was at the final stage. She could have given birth somewhere on the road. They decided not to leave the city under fire and moved to hospital number three so that she could give birth in peace.
I don't know anything about their plans and have no connection with her. I asked the Turkish Foreign Ministry and consul to help somehow. But I understand that everything is closed, there are no green corridors. Right now, I'm in despair.
