Mayor: Ukrainian Girl Dies under Rubble in Russian Attacks

A six-year-old girl died of thirst under the rubble of her destroyed home in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, the city council announced Tuesday.

Russian forces have surrounded Mariupol, destroying parts of the city despite promises of a ceasefire to allow civilians to be evacuated.

Officials did not indicate for how long the girl, named only as Tanya, had been under the ruins of her home before she died, noting that her mother was found dead at the scene.

"In the last minutes of her life she was alone, exhausted, frightened and terribly thirsty. This is just one of the many stories of Mariupol, which has been surviving a blockade for eight days," Mayor Vadym Boychenko said on the city's Telegram channel.

On his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded to the death of the girl in a video message released to urge Ukraine's Western partners to do more to help Kyiv counter Moscow's invasion.

"Mariupol was surrounded, blocked, is being exhausted, tortured," he declared. "For the first time in dozens of years, perhaps for the first time since the Nazi invasion, a child died of dehydration. Hear me, today, dear partners! A child died of dehydration in 2022!"