The family of a four-year-old girl who was killed by a missile strike in Ukraine attended her funeral, while her mother remained in intensive care, unaware.
The photos and videos of little Liza have gone viral, becoming the most recent images from the Ukrainian conflict to horrify the world.
Thursday’s Russian bombing of the central Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia claimed the life of Liza Dmytrieva. Iryna’s mother was in “critical condition” in the intensive care unit after the explosion.
The family feared that informing her of Liza’s burial on Sunday would worsen her condition.
When the explosion occurred, the two were on their way to see a speech therapist who was treating Liza, who had Down syndrome.
There were at least 24 additional fatalities, including two boys aged seven and eight, and more than 200 injuries.
On Sunday, the little girl was laid to rest at the 18th-century Transfiguration cathedral in Vinnytsia while wearing a crown of white flowers.
“Observe my flower! Her grandmother, Larysa Dmytryshyna, whispered to the girl as she lay in an open casket with flowers and teddy bears, “Look how many people came to you.”
The crying father of Liza, Artem Dmitriev, stood in silence.
The Associated Press reports that orthodox priest Vitalii Holoskevych also shed tears.
He stated with a trembling voice, “Because every funeral is a source of sorrow for each of us.” We are shedding our brethren and sistren.
“We are aware that evil cannot prevail.”
When the war broke out, the family evacuated Kyiv, the capital, for Vinnytsia in the southwest, which was seen as relatively safe until Thursday.
As the war nears its fifth month, Russia has shifted its focus from the eastern Donbas region to other sites to seize land from Ukraine and demoralize its leaders, population, and military.
The cruise missile attacks on Vinnytsia, which were launched by a Russian submarine, were the most recent instances to claim civilian lives and arouse international anger since President Vladimir Putin started the invasion on February 24.
Shortly before the explosions began, the family released a video to social media showing Liza struggling to grasp the handles of her stroller while wearing a denim jacket and white pants while walking through the city.
Following the Russian missile attack, Ukraine’s emergency services released photographs depicting her lifeless body on the ground close to her blood-stained stroller.
The films and photographs have gone viral, becoming the most recent pictures of the horrible conflict in Ukraine to horrify the globe.
