The girl's mother looked on while medics performed CPR in the ambulance as it arrived at the hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine. (Associated Press)
MARIUPOL, Ukraine - 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 pajama 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.
RELATED: FedEx, UPS halting shipments to Russia and Ukraine amid conflict
"Take her out! Take her out! We can make it!" a hospital worker shouted, pushing a gurney to the ambulance.
This browser does not support the Video element.
Wounded Ukrainian soldiers eager to return, fight
For wounded Ukrainian soldiers away from home, they're anxiously watching their nation under attack and yearning to get back to defend it.
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 videojournalist who had been allowed inside.
"Show this to Putin," he said angrily. "The eyes of this child, and crying doctors."
The child's death brought medical workers to tears. (Associated Press)
RELATED: Former Ukrainian beauty queen joins fight against Russian invasion
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, now spattered with blood.
MORE COVERAGE:
- Ukraine latest: Putin puts Russia's nuclear deterrent forces on alert amid tensions with West
- Wounded Ukrainian soldiers being treated in Florida eager to get home to defend country
- Who is the 'Ghost of Kyiv'? Tale of Ukrainian fighter pilot trends on social media
- Project Dynamo continues rescuing US citizens from Ukraine amid rising threat to Kyiv
- Elon Musk says his Starlink internet is ‘now active’ in Ukraine
- NATO to send troops to defend allies after Russia invades Ukraine; first-ever use of response force