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08th Mar 2022

7 year old Ukrainian girl killed in bomb attack as grandad tried to shield her

Ellen Fitzpatrick

Heartbreaking.

A seven year old girl in Ukraine has been killed during an alleged cluster bomb strike on a school as her grandfather tried to shield her from the attack.

Alisa Hlans was one of the six people killed when her kindergarten was hit last week in the Ukrainian city of Okhtyrka.

President Zelensky’s wife Olena said that the Russian “occupiers” are “consciously and cynically” killing children during their invasion of the country.

An Instagram post showed the deaths of five children in similar circumstances, with Olena adding that Alisa’s grandfather was also killed in the same attack as he tried “to protect her with his own body.”

Photos showed the bodies of the victims scattered around the entrance as staff attempted to flee with the surviving children.

Prosecutor general Irina Venediktova said Alisa, who was three months away from her eighth birthday, died in hospital a day later.

The Russian military has been accused of using cluster munitions in the attack as the school’s building shows evidence of multiple impacts from one bomb while the Kremlin has denied this.

Olena called on Nato to implement a no-fly zone over Ukraine to “save our children, so that yours won’t die tomorrow.”

She wrote: “Occupiers are killing Ukrainian children. Conscious and cynical.

“Sofijka, six years old. She and her one-and-a-half-year-old brother, whose mother, grandmother and grandfather were shot in their car.

“Alisa, from the Ukrainian city of Okhtyrka. She hasn’t aged any more than eight. She died during the shooting along with her grandfather, who tried to protect her with his own body.

“Polina from Kyiv. She died along with her parents and brother during the gunfire on the streets of the capital.

“Arsenij, 14 years old. The splinter of a bullet hit the boy in the head. Seriously wounded by rocket fire. ‘The 18-month-old Kirill from Mariupol was still taken to the hospital by his parents in the gunfire.

“I have to report this. At least 38 children have already been killed in Ukraine. And that number can continue to rise right now due to the burning of peaceful cities.

“When the people in Russia say they are not at war with civilians, show them these pictures!”