War in Ukraine: who was Lisa, the granddaughter who became the symbol of the massacre in Vinnytsia?

The photos shocked the international community on social media. Russian strikes killed at least 23 people Thursday at a shopping center and parking lot in Vinnytsia, a Ukrainian city still far from the front lines. Among the widely circulated images of this attack, one shows an overturned stroller and the body of a child, surrounded by blood.

According to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, it is Lisa, a four-year-old girl, who was walking with her mother before the missiles hit Vinnytsia.

“During the Russian terrorist attack in Vinnytsia on July 14, a girl named Lisa was killed in the explosion. Her mother Iryna was taken to hospital with her leg blown off,” the ministry said on Twitter.

Iryna captured “the last minutes of her daughter’s life”, the ministry said. The post is accompanied by a video in which Iryna films Lisa behind her stroller on the street.

A “bright, sincere, cheerful” child

The girl was known in the presidency, Olena Zelenska announced. Ukraine’s first lady posted a photo of Lisa’s body for the first time on her Telegram account along with a message denouncing Russian “crime and terrorism”. A few hours later, she explained that she realized that she had already met this little girl during a video recorded during the last Christmas vacation.

“Today we saw with horror a photo of an overturned stroller from Vinnytsia. And then, reading the news, I realized that I knew this girl. […] We met this wonderful girl while recording a video for the Christmas holidays, “he explained accompanying the publication of the video in question.

In the pictures, children paint Christmas balls. She “managed to paint not only her, her party dress, but all the other children, me, the cameramen and the director in half an hour,” she recalled, describing the girl as “bright, sincere, cheerful, who grew up in love.” “.

As of Thursday night, Lisa’s mother was still in hospital, according to Emine Dzheppar, Deputy Foreign Minister. “Doctors are fighting for Lisa’s mom’s life,” she tweeted, along with photos of Iryna and her daughter. Two other children were among the Vinnytsia victims, according to the ministry.