🌏 Russia Strikes A Maternity Ward, Polish Moms Leave Their Strollers For Ukrainian Refugees And More
All the world news you need to know this week.
Hello and welcome to the Almost newsletter, a weekly update to help you stay updated and make sense of important stories happening around the world including:
- 🌏 This Week’s Top Stories
- 👩 Women To Know
- 🙌 Good News To Start Your Week
This week, a Russian bomb attack on a maternity ward and children’s hospital in the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol killed at least three people, including one child, Ukrainian authorities said.
The attack on Wednesday Mar. 9 came despite Russia agreeing to a 12-hour ceasefire in order to allow hundreds of thousands of civilians to evacuate some of Ukraine’s hardest hit cities.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky called the attack an atrocity and repeated his call for NATO to declare a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
More on Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine
- 🇷🇺 Russian gymnast Ivan Kuliak wore a pro-invasion “Z” symbol on his chest to the podium next to a Ukrainian athlete, sparking global outcry. Despite facing disciplinary proceedings, Kuliak remains unrepentant, telling state-controlled Russia Today he had no regrets and would do it again.
- 🇺🇦 After being together for 20 years, Lesya Filimonova and Valeriy Filimonov, two members of Ukraine’s territorial defense unit, decided to tie the knot at a checkpoint on the frontlines of the war in Kyiv.
- 🇷🇺 IKEA announced it will pause operations in Russia, and Russian people are flocking to stores in a last-minute panic buying frenzy.
Also happening Around The World
🇬🇹 On International Women’s Day, Guatemala’s congress passed a bill to ban same-sex marriage, increase sentences for women who have abortions to 25 years and prohibit schools from teaching sexual diversity.
Despite the recent victories legalizing same-sex marriage in Chile and decriminalizing abortion in Colombia, the bill is seen as a major setback for women and LGBT rights in Latin America.
As millions of people flee from the war in Ukraine, moms in Poland are leaving baby strollers at a border crossing train station fo Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war.
The viral photo was captured by Francesco Malavolta, a 46-year-old photojournalist, who told Almost that he arrived in Przemyśl, Poland, two days after the war.
“I noticed a woman who was leaving a stroller at the railway station,” he said. “I asked the woman what she was doing, and she said mothers from Ukraine could use them if needed.”
Malavolta said that many Ukrainian women ended up using the strollers and were looking for them. “There are a lot of kids and women,” he said. “Although their stories are different, they all share the same [suffering].”
More than two million people have now fled Ukraine into neighboring countries since Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24, according to the UN.
More Women You Should Know
🇺🇦 A young Ukrainian girl who performed the song “Let it Go” from Disney’s “Frozen” in a Ukrainian bomb shelter has captured the hearts of millions online.
Meanwhile, down under, an owl pooped on this Australian sign language interpreter during a press conference, and he handled it like an absolute champ.
Australian sign language (Auslan) interpreter Mike Webb had been signing for the deputy premier Steven Miles in Brisbane on Wednesday Mar. 9 when owl poop landed on his face and jacket.
Webb was widely praised for how he handled the incident, with the state’s premier tweeting after the conference that “Nothing stops our fabulous Mikey” and clarifying that it was an owl that was the culprit.
Nothing stops our fabulous Mikey.
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) 12:54 AM ∙ Mar 9, 2022
He stands by my side, he stands by Queensland’s side.
By the way, it was an owl 🦉
This is not the first time a press conference in Australia has been interrupted by wildlife. In December, a giant huntsman spider caused chaos when it crawled up the leg of Queensland’s health minister during a COVID-19 press conference. Just another day in Straya.
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