Many families are fleeing Ukraine as Russian forces continue their attacks on its cities.
Nataliya Ableyeva 58, traveled from Ukraine to Hungary recently with two children that she had been given by a stranger.
Ableyeva met a desperate 38 year-old man from Kamianets Podilskyi as she waited for the Ukrainian border to cross. He was with his young son and daughter, but the guards won’t let him pass.
Ukraine has banned all male citizens aged 18-60 from leaving the country to fight for their country. This is in accordance with martial law and orders of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The man was forced to search for someone trustworthy in the crowd as children and women were not allowed to leave. He found Ableyeva among the crowd and asked her to help him and his children cross the border. He was not hesitant to grant his request.
“Their father simply handed over the two kids to me, and trusted me, giving me their passports to bring them over,” recalled Ableyeva.
The man told her that the kids’ Ukrainian mother, Anna Semyuk, 33, was on her way from Italy to meet them at the border and take them to safety. He then gave Semyuk’s mobile number to Ableyeva and said goodbye to his children, wrapped up in thick jackets and hats to shield them from the cold.
Unfortunately for Ableyeva, she couldn’t bring her own two grown-up children with her. Under the mobilization decree, one was a policeman and one was a nurse. Their professions are critical to the fight against Russians and the president said that they had no choice but to stay and join the cause.
Ableyeva took the man’s children by the hand, and they crossed the border together.
They waited at Beregsurany’s Hungarian border and then sat down on a bench next to a tent that was being prepared for the flood of refugees crossing the border. The boy was in tears when his mobile phone rang.
It was his mother calling to tell him that she was near the border post.
Semyuk arrived immediately and she hugged her child. She also checked in on her little girl, who was lying in a back seat in a car wrapped in a pink blanket.
Semyuk thanked Ableyeva. The two mothers hugged for several minutes, as their tears flowed.
“All I can say to my kids now, is that everything will be alright,” Semyuk said. “In one or two weeks, and we will go home.”
UN Refugee Agency says that more than half a million people fled Ukraine during the ongoing invasion.
“UNHCR is working with partners and local authorities to provide humanitarian aid and support those in need,” said the organization.
During his State of the Union Address, US President Joe Biden condemned Russia’s invasion and pledged solidarity with the Ukrainian people. He also reiterated the US’s refusal to send troops to Ukraine.
Watch the video below to see the heartwarming reunion of the mother with her children.
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