A 9-year-old Ukrainian girl had to have her arm amputated after being shot while fleeing her home in Kyiv — and said she hoped Russian forces “didn’t mean to hurt me” in the attack, which killed her dad, according to a report.
The young girl, identified only as Sasha, is seen in a heartbreaking photograph at a hospital near the Ukrainian capital, where she is recovering from the devastating injury, the Daily Mail reported.
Sasha, her parents and sister were fleeing the fighting in the city’s suburb of Hostomel when their vehicle came under fire, wounding her and killing her father. She, her mother and sibling took refuge in a cellar.
After slipping in and out of consciousness for a couple of days, she was carried to the hospital by residents waving a white flag, according to the outlet.
“I don’t know why the Russians shot me. I hope it was a mistake and they didn’t mean to hurt me,” the girl reportedly said from her bed.
“I took a bullet to the arm. I chased my sister. My mother collapsed. I thought it was the end of the world. But she wasn’t dead, she was just taking cover from the gunfire,” Sasha said.
“Then I went unconscious. Someone carried me down to the cellar. There, I received some treatment. Then some people carried me to the hospital on a towel,” the blond youngster added.
Dr. Vladislav Gorbovec, a vascular surgeon at the Central Hospital in Irpin, decided to amputate Sasha’s limb after he discovered that it had developed life-threatening gangrene, according to the Daily Mail.
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Another doctor described the harrowing moments after the family came under fire.
“She was badly injured, lost consciousness and became delirious,” Dr. Gennadiy Druzenko of the First Volunteer Mobile Hospital told the news outlet.
“Russian soldiers tried to break into the cellar. They shot at the door and screamed at the people to come out,” he said. “Finally the girl was brought to the hospital by civilians waving a white flag as they ran through the battle zone.”
Druzenko added: “She is one of a number of children who have suffered terrible injuries. All of them have lost at least one of their parents.”
A nurse who treated Sasha marveled at the girl’s courage amid the trauma.
“The first thing Sasha said to me was, ‘Please be honest, do I have a left hand or not?’” the nurse told the Daily Mail.
“I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know whether not to say anything, to lie or to tell her the truth,” she said. “What do you say to a child who is in pain but who knows that she put up with it?
“She asked if she would be healthy and if she can have a new pink artificial arm colored with flowers,” the nurse added. “She is so strong. She does not cry because she knows only weak people cry.”
The nurse added: “I am so angry and I feel so much hate towards whoever shoots and maims children.”
