Ukraine Russia war: pregnant woman, her unborn dies after Moscow attacks maternity hospital

A pregnant woman and her unborn baby died after Russia bombed a maternity hospital in Ukraine's Mariupol, where she was expected to deliver her child.

Images of the woman being rushed to an ambulance on a stretcher had circled the world, epitomizing the horror of an attack on humanity's most innocent.

In video and photos shot by AP journalists after Wednesday's attack on the hospital, the woman was seen stroking her bloodied lower abdomen as rescuers rushed her through the rubble in the besieged city of Mariupol.

Timur Marin, the surgeon who performed Caesarean on injured pregnant woman, said: "On that day (March 9), when the maternity hospital was hit, three women were brought here. One was in critical condition, in a state of shock with a crushed pelvis and a detached hip. While we were resuscitating her and treating her for shock, we carried out a Caesarean section and took out her lifeless child. More than 30 minutes of resuscitation didn't produce any results. Then more than 30 minutes of resuscitation of the mother didn't produce results. Both died."

In the chaos after Wednesday's airstrike, medics didn't have time to get the woman's name before her husband and father came to take away her body.

Accused of war crimes, Russian officials claimed the maternity hospital had been taken over by Ukrainian extremists to use as a base, and that no patients or medics were left inside.

Russia's ambassador to the United Nations and the Russian embassy in London called the images "fake news".