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HEART-WRENCHING: Weeping Ukrainian cradles body of son killed by Russian shelling in Mariupol

The 16-year-old boy was playing soccer in Mariupol on Wednesday, March 2, when he got killed due to the shelling by Russian troops

Russia's invasion and attacks on Ukraine have come at a tragic human cost. Heartbreaking images have flooded social media as people mourn the loss of several lost soldiers and civilians. An image from the Ukrainian city of Mariupol shows a devastated father weeping over the body of his teenage son.

The Ukrainian father, identified as Serhii, enters the room and finds his 16-year-old son, Iliya, draped in a blood-stained sheet. He cradles his son's head as he bends over the stretcher set up at a maternity unit. Iliya was playing soccer in Mariupol on Wednesday, March 2, when he got killed due to the shelling by Russian troops. The explosives hit the soccer field near a school in the Azov Sea City.

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The teenager arrived at the hospital in the back of a car, with both his legs ripped apart due to the shelling. The hospital was originally a maternity hospital but has now been converted into a makeshift medical ward. 

Jake Tapper tweeted the image with the caption, "AP photo: 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."

The Black Sea City hospital has been turned into a makeshift hospital to treat civilian victims of Russian shelling, while Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues. As per reports, Mariupol, the main port in eastern Ukraine, is under heavy bombardment with no water or power.

The conflict in Ukraine is in its second week, with many Ukrainian cities surrounded and under bombardment. Kyiv and Kharkiv have suffered intense damage due to continuous attacks and blasts. The city of Kherson has been taken by Russian troops, and the port city of Mariupol is being catastrophically bombed.

The Russian military has reportedly entered the southern city of Enerhodar, a major energy hub on the Dnieper River that accounts for about one-quarter of the country's power. More shelling has been reported in the northern city of Chernihiv, where at least 33 civilians have been killed and 18 were wounded during the bombardment of a residential area. Civilians are fleeing the country as their lives are in constant danger. As per the United Nations, more than one million refugees have fled the country within a period of seven days.