An elderly couple has walked 16 kilometres from the front-line village of Torske to the town of Lyman to escape the war. Their journey on foot took five hours, with the woman walking barefoot.

Source: National Police of Ukraine

Details: The police reported that the couple had not eaten for three days and their house in Donetsk Oblast had burned down completely – they barely escaped in time. Left without shelter, the pensioners set off on foot for Lyman. The woman walked barefoot because her boots had chafed her feet.

Quote: "We were hiding in the basement because of the shellings. We hadn't eaten for three days. There was a strike and we barely made it out of the basement. Everything burned down, nothing was left. We decided to walk to our son-in-law in Lyman.

We set out at 09:00 and reached Lyman around 14:00. We stopped at someone's house because my wife had heart problems. We walked 16 kilometres, leaning on a bicycle. She walked barefoot because her boots had rubbed her feet raw," the man said.

Details: In addition to the elderly couple, three more people were evacuated. One woman shared the horrors of the constant shelling.

"Everything is exploding, everything is burning, it's terrifying. Three drones hit my neighbour's house – it burned down. My roof is damaged and my windows are gone," she said

The rescued civilians have been taken to a safe location, where representatives of the Red Cross Rapid Response Unit were waiting for them. They will now be helped to reach relatives living in other parts of Ukraine.

Due to intensified Russian attacks and the ongoing threat of drone strikes, evacuation requests have increased in the Lyman hromada [a hromada is an administrative unit designating a village, several villages, or a town, and their adjacent territories – ed.]. Police are now planning evacuation routes in advance to evacuate residents as quickly and safely as possible.

Background:

• Earlier we wrote about Lidiia Stepanivna, who at the age of 98 walked nearly ten kilometres on her own from a partially occupied village in Donetsk Oblast last year and who has recently passed away. Her home had been destroyed by Russian forces.
• Later, Monobank and its partners purchased a new home for her.

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