A bloody, heavily pregnant woman wrapped in a blanket outside a bombed-out maternity hospital in Ukraine has become one of the most iconic images of the war.
The photo was taken in March when a hospitals in the besieged city of Mariupol, which had a maternity ward, were bombed.
– Net hatred and death threats
The woman in the photo was quickly identified as Marianna Vyshemirskyj – a 29-year-old woman from the port city of Mariupol, according to BBC.
– The image of me was used to spread lies about the war, she says in an interview with the BBC, which will be the first interview she has done with Western media.
– A difficult day
The 29-year-old not only had to escape Mariupol with her husband and baby, to save her life, she tells of cyber hatred and death threats in retrospect, because of the pictures of her, she tells the channel.
– I received threats that they would come and find me, that I would be killed, that my child would be cut to pieces, she says.
GOT HELP: Marianna Vyshemirsky, had all the things for her child in the clinic when it was bombed and got help to get them. Photo: AP Photo / Evgeniy Maloletka
sea view
Accused of acting
The Russian embassy in Britain has accused Vyshemirsky to just be actinglaughs and because she only had realistic makeup on her face. She was also accused by Russia’s representative in the UN Security Council of being an actress.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed that the hospital in Mariupol was used by right-wing extremists and that there were no health personnel in the building when the incident took place.
“It was very offensive to hear that, because I have actually experienced everything,” Vyshemirskyj told the BBC.
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Born a daughter
She was in the maternity ward when the bombs hit the hospital. Marianna got a cut on her forehead and pieces of glass got stuck in her skin.
“You could hear everything flying around, splinters and other things,” she told the BBC.
The photo of her was taken by photographers from the Associated Press while she was standing outside the hospital waiting to go in and pick up her things.
GOT A DAUGHTER: Two days after the bombing of the hospital, Vyshemirsky gave birth to a daughter. Here she is with her husband Yuri holding the baby. Photo: AP / Evgeniy Maloletka
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– Everything I had prepared for my baby was in that maternity ward, she says.
In March, it became known that she gave birth to a little girl, according to AP. Vyshemirskyj’s daughter has given the name Veronika.
According to the BBC, the small family is now in the Donbas area of Ukraine.
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