Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Hard News Hard Hitting News Source Global Political News

International News

Father mourns son after shelling on Ukraine soccer field

Serhii, father of teenager Iliya, cries on his son’s lifeless body lying on a stretcher at a maternity hospital converted into a medical ward in Mariupol, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

MARIUPOL, Ukraine (AP) — The surgeons leaving the operating room don’t make eye contact. One of them holds up his hands. Another looks down, defeated. It’s then that the father waiting at the doorway grabs his forehead, tears welling, and turns away, a wail about to escape his throat.

The man, identified only as Serhii, enters the room and finds his 16-year-old son, Iliya, is still and draped by a blood-stained sheet.

Serhii drops down, hugs Iliya’s lifeless head and convulses with grief.

Iliya was fatally wounded Wednesday while playing soccer in Mariupol when shelling started amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The explosive hit the soccer field near a school in the Azov Sea city.

Elsewhere in Mariupol, shelling illuminated darkening skies as medics stood in a parking lot, with heavy fighting continuing on the city outskirts on Thursday. The city was plunged into darkness as the battle knocked out most phone services and raised the prospect of food and water shortages.

Without phone connections, medics did not know where to take the wounded. Others drove around the city, with one crew finding a wounded woman who was put on a stretcher, carried down the stairs and placed into an ambulance, her hands shaking rapidly.

Cutting off Ukraine’s access to the Black and Azov Seas would deal a crippling blow to Ukraine’s economy. It would also allow Russia to build a land corridor to Crimea, which it seized in 2014.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces have brought their superior firepower to bear over the past few days, launching hundreds of missiles and artillery attacks on cities and other sites around the country and making significant gains in the south.

The Russians announced the capture of the southern city of Kherson, a vital Black Sea port of 280,000, and local Ukrainian officials confirmed the takeover of the government headquarters there, making it the first major city to fall since the invasion began a week ago.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-sports-soccer-europe-international-soccer-b9ee718472ed3e23f8c70124ef4c3318

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You May Also Like

Business News

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby apologized Monday after his father-in-law, disgraced former Baylor coach Art Briles, was seen on the field with...

Business News

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A major rescue operation is underway in Turkey’s Taurus Mountains to bring out an American researcher who fell seriously ill...

Business News

Spanish soccer is ready to move forward, three weeks after its women’s team won the Women’s World Cup but had its celebrations marred by a...

Business News

The Brenner Base Tunnel will form the main part of a 64 km mega-tunnel under the Alps between Austria and Italy, making it the...

Copyright © 2023 Hard News Herd Hitting in Your Face News Source | World News | Breaking News | US News | Political News Website by Top Search SEO