A 98-year-old Ukrainian woman, who was separated from her family during a Russian invasion of her home village, walked 10 kilometres to safety in her slippers with only a cane and splintered piece of wood to support her.
Lidia Lomikovska’s family decided it was time to flee the front-line village of Ocheretyne in a Russian-occupied territory of eastern Ukraine last week after Russian troops entered and fighting intensified.
However, as they began to make their way out of the village, bombing ramped up and Lidia became separated from her son and two daughters-in-law.
Knowing she was in danger, she began to walk west in a pair of blue patterned slippers.
Lidia Lomikovska walked 10 kilometres in her slippers.
Handout / National Police of Ukraine
Olha Lomikovska, one of her daughters-in-law, had been injured by shrapnel and the family decided they would take back routes to safety. But Lidia pressed on along the main road.
Describing her journey, the nonagenarian said she fell twice and was forced to stop to rest at some points, even sleeping along the way before waking up and continuing her journey.
“Once I lost balance and fell into weeds. I fell asleep … a little, and continued walking. And then, for the second time, again, I fell. But then I got up and thought to myself: “I need to keep walking, bit by bit,’” Lidia said in an interview posted by the National Police of Donetsk region.
Lidia says she walked all day, but was eventually saved when two Ukrainian soldiers spotted her along the road that evening.
She told the BBC she made the soldiers laugh when one asked how old she was.
“I said I was 48 or 49, he didn’t believe me!”
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian National Police of Donetsk region, 98-year-old Lidia Lomikovska sits in a shelter after she escaped Russian-occupied territory in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, April 26, 2024.
Ukrainian National Police of Donetsk region via AP
The soldiers contacted the “White Angels,” a police group that evacuates citizens living on the front line. They picked up Lidia and took her to a shelter for evacuees and contacted her relatives.
“I survived that war,’ she said, referring to World War II. “I had to go through this war too, and in the end, I am left with nothing.”
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian National Police of Donetsk region, 98-year-old Lidia Lomikovska sits in a shelter after she escaped Russian-occupied territory in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, April 26, 2024.
Genya Savilov / AFP via Getty Images
“That war wasn’t like this one. I saw that war. Not a single house burned down. But now — everything is on fire,” she said to her rescuer. “There’s nothing left! It’s all upside-down!”
It seems as though Lidia is now out of harm’s way and a bit of good fortune will come her way; on Tuesday, the CEO of one of Ukraine’s largest banks, Monobank, said the bank would buy Lidia a home, reports AP.
— With files from The Associated Press
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