A devastating humanitarian crisis is unfolding in Ukraine and, unfortunately, those most affected in the midst of the armed conflict have undoubtedly been the smallest: forced from their homes and exposed to injuries, hunger and cold, and even many have been separated from their parents.
Just as it happened when a desperate father had to hand over his two young children to a stranger when border guards detained him by denying him the possibility of leaving the country.
The Calvary
While waiting at the border crossing on the Ukrainian side, 58-year-old Nataliya Ableyeva met a 38-year-old man from her hometown of Kamianets-Podilskyi, with his young children. The border guards would not let him pass, as Ukraine has banned all men between the ages of 18 and 60 from leaving to stay and fight for their country.
The distraught father had no choice but to trust Nataliya and hand over the children, giving her their mother’s passports and phone number so they could be reunited with her.
Anna Semyuk, 33, the children’s mother, was on her way from Italy to meet them and take them to safety. Nataliya had also left behind her two adult sons in Ukraine, one a policeman and the other a nurse, but neither was able to leave the country due to the mobilization decree.
Once the father said goodbye to his children, sheltered against the cold with thick jackets and hats, Nataliya took the little ones by the hand and together they crossed the border. They waited on the Hungarian side of Beregsurany, in an area of tents set up for the rush of refugees pouring across the border.
A happy ending
The boy cried when his mobile phone began to ring: it was his mother who was about to arrive at the border post. When he arrived, he hugged his son and looked for his young daughter, who lay exhausted in the back of a car wrapped in a pink blanket.
Anna thanked Nataliya. Standing on the cold, brush-covered ground, the two women held each other for several minutes and began to cry.
All I can tell my children now is that everything will be fine. One or two weeks and we’ll go home.
Source: Okchicas
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