A missing nine-year-old Ukrainian girl was found dead in a German forest.
Only known as Valeriia, the girl vanished on her way to school in the German town of Döbeln, Saxony, on June 3, igniting an international search and rescue effort.
In a frantic search for the young girl, officers from Ukraine, Poland, and the Czech Republic, as well as 400 German officials, were deployed to comb through a nearby area in hopes of finding her.
Following a widespread manhunt, a body was discovered in a forest linking two local towns on Tuesday afternoon.
The road connecting the two towns has since been closed off by police, as a press conference is scheduled to be held Wednesday.
Valeriia was last seen on her way to school on the morning of her disappearance.
Another classmate who was running late for school told authorities they last saw the girl waiting in front of the school around 9:20 a.m.
Valeriia had been living in Germany with her mother since 2022 and spoke broken German, while her father is reportedly still in Ukraine, according to Metro News.
The search mostly focused on Döbeln, where the population is approximately 24,000.
Hundreds of officers, with the assistance of dogs and helicopters, and concerned locals formed search parties.
"We request the residents to check their gardens, cellars, garages, and sheds for the missing girl," said Sven Liebhauser, the city's mayor.
Yesterday, a spokeswoman for the Chemnitz Police Department assured the public they "won't give up hope and will continue to search and find out what happened to the girl."
