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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Tim Hanlon

Teen pulled from bombed Ukrainian flats on 19th birthday is fighting for life

A woman, aged 19, has lost an eye in horrific injuries that have left her fighting for her life after a Russian missile hit an apartment block in Ukraine that has killed more than 40 people.

Anna Kotova was pulled from the rubble of the building in Dnipro following the strike from a missile last Saturday - the same day as her 19th birthday.

Images show the severe injuries that she suffered, including the loss of an eye, and she is to be moved to Poland for life-saving treatment, it is reported.

Days after the attack, Ukrainian emergency crews were still sifting through what was left of the Dnipro apartment building destroyed by a Russian missile, placing bodies from one of the war's deadliest single missile strikes in months in black bags and gingerly carrying them across steep piles of rubble.

There are more than 40 people who were killed from the blast and many more injured.

Anna had moved to Dnipro as it was thought to be safer (social media /e2w)

Anna's friend friend Tatiana told how doctors are now trying to save her other eye.

"My friend Anna Kotova miraculously survived," she said.

"She was celebrating her 19th birthday that day, but was severely injured in the Russian attack. While saving her life, doctors could not save one eye and removed it.

Anna has lost one eye in the attack and doctors are trying to save the other (Department of Public Health of the Dnipro City Council /e2w)

“The other eye will have to be fought for after her underlying condition stabilises, she also has multiple wounds and a head injury.”

Anna had gone from the Luhansk region to Dnipro in the hope of it being safer.

Now her condition in hospital is described as “severe” but reports say she will be moved to Poland for treatment, with her friends raising funds for her medical treatment.

She graduated last year from school in Severodonetsk and was living in Dnipro without her relatives.

The apartment block in Dnipro was hit by the missile last Saturday (Global Images Ukraine via Getty)

Head of Luhansk region Serhiy Haidai said: "A 19-year-old student from the Luhansk region is among the victims of the Dnipro tragedy.

"Now Anna is in the Dnipro hospital in intensive care. Her condition is severe. Now it's up to the doctors. The girl is getting all the help she needs."

Haidai added that more than 300 people came to donate blood to the victims in the first two days after the tragedy in Dnipro.

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