Mothers symbolized by Mariupol maternity hospital bombings ask to vote for Vladimir Putin

“For me, this choice is obvious,” explains Mariana Vyshegirskaya, nicknamed “Madonna of Mariupol” on Instagram.

The photo, broadcast by the American agency Associated Press, went worldwide. A young pregnant woman, covered in blood and looking dazed, stands in front of the ruins of a maternity ward in Mariupol, southern Ukraine, bombed by Russian forces on March 9, 2022. Her name is Mariana Vyshemirskaya, but the media that tells her story changes her name. “Madonna of Mariupol”. A little less than two years later, she spoke again, but this time to show her support for Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, her re-election candidate.

On Instagram, the Ukrainian announced that she brought her signature as part of a collection before the presidential election. “For me, this choice is clear”She wrote on January 21, praising the policies and decisions of the outgoing Russian president, thanks to whom “Despite the sanctions and all the problems, Russia is developing dynamically”, According to him.

In an article dedicated to him, Ukrainian media RBC reviews the reactions of Internet users outraged by this support and other insults. “Madonna of Mariupol”. According to the daily, In the Ukrainian territories controlled by Russian separatists, Mariana Vyshemirskaya, originally from Donetsk, posted on her blog “Praises the Kremlin’s fake news and the Russian government”.

In an interview with a Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya PravdaA year after the events, she accused the Ukrainian forces “hidden” Behind the civilians in the maternity ward, “thus violating the Geneva Convention for the Protection of Civilians in the Time of Hostilities.”. As for the Associated Press reporters who published her photo and reported her story in the Western media, she accused them of “Not kept (From his testimony) what they want” And wished “death” of his child.

A city of martyrs

Besieged for weeks by Russian forces and pro-Russian separatists, Moscow, a port city on the Sea of ​​Azov, came under fire in the spring of 2022. After hitting the city’s maternity hospital, killing three people, including a baby, a theater where hundreds of families had taken refuge was also struck a few days later.

“The bombing of the Mariupol maternity ward is inhumane, disgusting, cruel and tragic”European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen declared in an interview on Franceinfo. “I am sure this could be a war crime and it really needs to be investigated”She added, while slamming Emmanuel Macron“Unfair Acts of War”.

At the time, Moscow first justified the bombing, explaining that it welcomed a battalion of Ukrainian fighters, before condemning it. “staged”. Describing the Russian military’s strategy in this martyred city, Jean-Paul Palomeros, former Chief of Staff of the French Air Force and former Supreme Commander of NATO, declared: “It is violence in its purest form to show that anything that tries to resist must be met without mercy. (…) Putin doesn’t care much at this stage. He wants to conquer territory and capture the imagination by showing that there is no other way than to submit.”