Ukraine woman, 98, walks 10km under shelling to escape Russians

Lidia Stepanivna: She walked without food or water, and fell several times but her 'character' kept her going

By Reuters

Published: Wed 1 May 2024, 9:57 PM

A 98-year-old Ukrainian woman said she walked 10km under shelling, supporting herself with sticks and sleeping on the ground, leaving Ocheretyne in Donetsk, now occupied by Russia, and trying to reach areas controlled by Kyiv.

In a video posted by Ukraine's police on social media on Monday, the woman, identified as Lidia Stepanivna, said she had walked without food or water, and fell several times but her "character" kept her going.

"I survived that war (World War Two), and I am surviving this war," Stepanivna said in the video, which shows her sitting on a bed in a shelter, dressed in an oversized coat and a scarf tied on her head, a wooden stick still in her hand. "I'm left with nothing. But I left my Ukraine on feet."

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She said the war that now Russia is waging against her country is nothing like World War Two.

"Houses are burning and trees are being uprooted," she said.

Ukraine's interior ministry said in a statement on its website that the woman was discovered by Ukraine's military in the evening and handed her to the police, who took her to a shelter for evacuees.

"Law enforcement officers are looking for the woman's relatives," the ministry said.

It was not immediately clear when the woman was discovered.

The war, now in its third year and with no end in sight, has killed thousands, turned Ukrainian cities and villages into rouble and displaced millions of people.