Heartbreaking moment mum holds body of daughter, 4, after toddler was struck by Russian missile shrapnel in Ukraine

6 months ago 5

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A WAILING mother held her four-year-old daughter’s tiny hand for the last time after her heart was pierced by shrapnel from one of Putin’s missiles.

Nadiia Rostochyl and her husband Viacheslav buried little Zlata in a coffin filled to the brim with flowers, dolls and teddy bears.

Nadiia Rostochyl holds her to her dead daughter’s small hand[/caption]

Zlata was hit by a piece of missile shrapnel when Putin’s forces launched a blitz on Odesa last month[/caption]

She survived for over a month until her heart gave up last week[/caption]

Other mourners cry at the funeral for brave Zlata[/caption]

The child was buried in Odesa, southern Ukraine – a city Russia has been relentlessly pounding with aerial attacks in an attempt to decimate the key port city.

On Sunday, an entire community came together to grieve the loss of Zlata whose heart gave up after she bravely fought for nearly a month to stay alive.

Her mother was pictured clinging onto her hand next to the small coffin and staring into her eyes that would never open again.

Zlata’s home city had been bombarded with ballistic missiles and illegal cluster munitions on April 29.

The strike took out a university building and the Odesa Law Academy, dubbed the “Harry Potter Castle”, killing eight and injuring over 30, including another child and a pregnant women.

Footage from the attack showed Odesans watching in horror as the landmark buildings crumbled and burned and firefighters frantically attempted to save the victims.

Local student Maria said at the time: “In front of my eyes, a missile was shot down, this was just in front of me.

“My doors were blown open and the glass was shaking. And then I saw this.”

The ‘Harry Potter’ law academy burns during the April 29 strike[/caption]

Zlata was one of eight killed in the blitz that saw missiles and illegal cluster bombs rain down on the port city[/caption]

As of last month, the UN says that roughly 600 children have been killed and 1,350 injured since the start of the war 27 months ago.

Moscow has been accused of deliberately targeting Ukrainian children, especially through its illegal deportation of children into Russia.

Last year, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin and Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights Maria Lvova-Belova for war crimes against kids.

In Kharkiv, another frontline city and the focus of Russia’s new offensive, The Sun watched as a Ukrainian soldier wedded his sweetheart before heading to fight.

The number of couples tying the knot in the bomb-blitzed region rose by 11 per cent to 10,977 as troops fear they might not make it back.

It comes as Ukraine carried out its deepest ever drone strike 1,120 miles inside Russia.

The attack targeted radar systems and even buzzed close to Putin’s £1billion Black Sea fortress palace as it hit infrastructure nearby.