As conflict intensifies in Ukraine, the human cost is escalating. Here are some of the civilians reported to have died.
Polina, primary school pupil
One of the first civilian victims named in the conflict was Polina, who was in her final year of primary school in Kyiv. A photo shows her smiling, her hair highlighted with pink streaks. Kyiv’s deputy mayor, Volodymyr Bondarenko, said in a Facebook post that her family car was shot at by “Russian saboteurs” in the city. Her brother was taken for treatment at Okhmatdyt children’s hospital and her sister was last known to be in intensive care at another hospital.
Unnamed six-year-old girl
On 27 February a six-year-old girl was caught in shelling in the port city of Mariupol. In scenes captured by an Associated Press journalist, the girl’s wounded father, his head bloodied and bandaged, could be seen lifting his child, wearing pyjamas decorated with cartoon unicorns, into the back of an ambulance. As a medical team fought to save her, her mother wept outside. “Show this to Putin,” a medic said angrily into the journalist’s camera. “The eyes of this child, and crying doctors.”
Unnamed six-year-old boy
A boy was killed when a five-storey apartment building was shelled in Chuhuiv, a city outside Kharkiv. His 13-year-old brother is being treated at a children’s hospital in Kyiv, Pravda News and the BBC reported. The head of the Cherkasy regional state administration, Oleksandr Skichko, wrote about the blast on the morning of 24 February, saying on Facebook: “A shell hit the central part of the city. One civilian dead, five more in hospital.”
Yelena Ivanova and Yelena Kudrin, secondary school teachers
At the Kalininsky district cemetery, mourners were pictured grieving at the funeral of two teachers killed in a shelling attack on Gorlovka, in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, on 25 February. Yelena Kudrin, a geography teacher, and Yelena Ivanova, a deputy head, both worked at Secondary School No 50.
Naveen Shekarappa Gyanagoudar, 21, medical student
On the morning of 1 March, Naveen Shekarappa Gyanagoudar was killed in Kharkiv while on his way to buy groceries. He had told family that he had been sheltering in a bunker for the last few days, the Indian Express reported. The student had been advised by his family to place an Indian flag outside the building he was in, NDTV said.
Gyanagoudar, 21, who moved from India to Ukraine, was a fourth-year medical student at Kharkiv National Medical University. India’s external affairs ministry tweeted: “With profound sorrow we confirm that an Indian student lost his life in shelling in Kharkiv this morning. The ministry is in touch with his family. We convey our deepest condolences to the family.”
Mohamed Abdel-Moneim, 25, engineering graduate
A recent graduate of aeronautical engineering, Mohamed Abdel-Moneim was killed in Kharkiv. Reports from the New Arab said the Algerian 25-year-old was seeking refuge in a shelter with other students when he was hit by a bullet.
In a video for Al Araby TV, Abdel-Moneim’s father said: “My letter to this crazy world: we want to live in peace all around the world. Enough wars. Enough killing for the sake of killing.” The president of Algeria, Abdelmadjid Tabboune, sent his “sincere condolences and his deep feelings of compassion and sympathy” to the family.
