{"id":27880,"date":"2024-04-30T14:34:12","date_gmt":"2024-04-30T18:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/a-98-year-old-in-ukraine-walked-miles-to-safety-from-russians-with-slippers-and-a-cane\/30\/04\/2024\/"},"modified":"2024-04-30T14:34:12","modified_gmt":"2024-04-30T18:34:12","slug":"a-98-year-old-in-ukraine-walked-miles-to-safety-from-russians-with-slippers-and-a-cane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/a-98-year-old-in-ukraine-walked-miles-to-safety-from-russians-with-slippers-and-a-cane\/30\/04\/2024\/","title":{"rendered":"A 98-year-old in Ukraine walked miles to safety from Russians, with slippers and a cane"},"content":{"rendered":"

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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) \u2014 A 98-year-old woman in Ukraine who escaped Russian-occupied territory<\/a> by walking almost 10 kilometers (6 miles) alone, wearing a pair of slippers and supported by a cane has been reunited with her family days after they were separated while fleeing to safety.<\/p>\n

Lidia Stepanivna Lomikovska and her family decided to leave the frontline town of Ocheretyne, in the eastern Donetsk region, last week after Russian troops entered it and fighting intensified.<\/p>\n

Russians have been advancing<\/a> in the area, pounding Kyiv’s depleted, ammunition-deprived forces with artillery, drones and bombs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI woke up surrounded by shooting all around \u2014 so scary,\u201d Lomikovska said in a video interview posted by the National Police of Donetsk region.<\/p>\n

In the chaos of the departure, Lomikovska became separated from her son and two daughters-in-law, including one, Olha Lomikovska, injured by shrapnel days earlier. The younger family members took to back routes, but Lydia wanted to stay on the main road.<\/p>\n

With a cane in one hand and steadying herself using a splintered piece of wood in the other, the pensioner walked all day without food and water to reach Ukrainian lines.<\/p>\n

Describing her journey, the nonagenarian said she had fallen twice and was forced to stop to rest at some points, even sleeping along the way before waking up and continuing her journey.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce I lost balance and fell into weeds. I fell asleep \u2026 a little, and continued walking. And then, for the second time, again, I fell. But then I got up and thought to myself: \u201cI need to keep walking, bit by bit,\u2019\u201d Lomikovska said.<\/p>\n

Pavlo Diachenko, acting spokesman for the National Police of Ukraine in the Donetsk region, said Lomikovska was saved when Ukrainian soldiers spotted her walking along the road in the evening. They handed her over to the \u201cWhite Angels,\u201d a police group that evacuates citizens living on the front line, who then took her to a shelter for evacuees and contacted her relatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cI survived that war,\u2019 she said referring to World War II. \u201cI had to go through this war too, and in the end, I am left with nothing.<\/p>\n

“That war wasn\u2019t like this one. I saw that war. Not a single house burned down. But now \u2013 everything is on fire,\u201d she said to her rescuer.<\/p>\n

In the latest twist to the story, the chief executive of one of Ukraine\u2019s largest banks announced on his Telegram channel Tuesday that the bank would purchase a house for the pensioner.<\/p>\n

\u201cMonobank will buy Lydia Stepanivna a house and she will surely live in it until the moment when this abomination disappears from our land,\u201d Oleh Horokhovskyi said.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press writer Volodmyr Yurchuk in Kyiv contributed to this story.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A 98-year-old woman in Ukraine who escaped Russian-occupied territory by walking almost 10 kilometers (6 miles) alone, wearing