A hospital counsellor put her hand on his and offered him words of encouragement. The 69-year-old said doctors had told her that unless Masha started eating again soon, she would not survive. In the corridor outside, Masha's grandmother, Valentina Feshchenko, paced and waited. But in my opinion, such a request will not be successful.” I would like to tell them stop killing our children. “Most Russian people don't believe these pictures. “I hope this picture will create a strong impression on people,” Dr Anikin said looking at Masha's body. Moscow police reported more than 200,000 people were in and around the Luzhniki stadium to celebrate the eighth anniversary of Russia's annexation of the Crimean peninsula, seized from Ukraine. Yet as the war has dragged on many Ukrainians have also accused their neighbours of either being blinded by Kremlin propaganda, or being simply unwilling, or too fearful, to see what is going on.Īs the medic showed The Telegraph round his ward on Friday morning, some 600 miles north in Moscow, where Dr Anikin's cousins live, Vladimir Putin appeared at a huge flag-waving rally and praised his country's troops as they pressed their onslaught. Like many Russian-speaking Ukrainians, he has many friends and family members in neighbouring Russia. Some of the medic's many Russian friends and relatives have told him the pictures and reports of wounded Ukrainian children are fake, or taken from different conflicts in other parts of the world. “Most Russian people don't believe these pictures,” he said. “I hope this picture will create a strong impression on people,” Ivan Anikin, head of intensive care at the children's hospital in Zaporizhzhia, said, looking at Masha's body as he encouraged the Telegraph to photograph her.īut he was sceptical that it would change many minds across the border. The blast left her deafened and she has not eaten for five days. Masha's right arm was also shredded by shrapnel and her shoulder broken. She had been walking with her mother, Sonia, and another girl in their home town of Polohy when a shell landed 10 feet away. A light sheet draped over the body of 15-year-old Masha Feshchenko, clearly shows the outline of a stump where her right leg had been amputated above the knee.