12 June 2024 , 15:32
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Authorities searching for a missing 9-year-old Ukrainian girl have paused their search after a body was found.
The girl, named only as Valeriia, vanished while on her way to school in the German town of Döbeln, Saxony on June 3, sparking an international manhunt.
Officers in Ukraine, Poland and the Czech Republic began a frantic search for the young girl, while over 400 German officers were deployed to scour the nearby area in the hopes of finding her.
But after an extensive manhunt, a body was finally discovered in a forest linking two nearby towns on Tuesday afternoon. Police have since closed the road linking the two towns and say a press conference will be held on Wednesday to provide updates.
Valeriaa went missing while on her way to school in Saxony, Germany (Picture: Newsflash)
Valeriia was last seen on her way to school on the morning of her disappearance. A classmate, who was late for school, last saw her waiting in front of the school around 9:20 a.m.
The girl is said to have lived in Germany with her mother since 2022. She speaks broken German, and her father is reportedly still in Ukraine. Their relationship remains unclear.
Although police reached out to their counterparts throughout Europe, the bulk of the search took place in Döbeln, a city with approximately 24,000 inhabitants.
Hundreds of officers scoured the city’s rural surroundings with the assistance of dogs and a helicopter, while concerned locals also formed search parties.
The city’s mayor, Sven Liebhauser, acknowledged the search and said: ‘We request the residents to check their gardens, cellars, garages, and sheds for the missing girl.’
Yesterday a spokeswoman for the Chemnitz Police Department assured the public, ‘We won’t give up hope. We’ll continue to search and find out what happened to the girl.’