'Where is my daddy?' injured child cries after fleeing Mariupol

A moving video released on Wednesday shows a Ukrainian boy crying inconsolably for his father when they arrived at the Zaporiyia hospital after being wounded in Russian shelling in Mariupol, southeastern Ukraine.

In the video shared on social media, the child is seen in a hospital bed crying and complaining of pain, while asking for his father. A nurse tries to reassure him and promises him that he will soon see his father, who is hospitalized in another ward.

Dima and his father were injured on March 19 by a Russian bombing in Mariupol, southeastern Ukraine. They were unable to leave the city on the same day of the attack, Univision reported.

The child was operated on but "still requires intensive care," said anesthesiologist Olena Plevakina.

"Where is my dad?" Dima, a young Ukrainian boy, cries from his hospital bed as he asks for his father, who, like Dima, was injured in Mariupol. His father is being treated in another part of the hospital. pic.twitter.com/ZawwfPtVe4

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The town of Zaporiyia became a refuge for Ukrainian citizens fleeing the siege by Russian troops, particularly those who escaped from devastated Mariupol, France 24 reported.

Most people travel from city to city in search of refuge, waiting for an opportunity to escape through a humanitarian corridor. 

Zapoyiria hospital has taken in several children wounded by shelling in Mariupol, where some 5,000 people have already died, including 210 minors, according to data provided by Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko, Ukrinform reported.  

In 27 days, Russian strikes and shelling damaged 2,340 apartment buildings—around 90% of the total—of which 1,560 were directly hit and 1,040 destroyed.

In addition, three hospitals were destroyed, and seven others were damaged. Fifty-seven schools and 70 kindergartens were also reported damaged, more than half of them in ruins.