More than 200 children evacuated from an orphanage in Ukraine conflict zone amid Russian attacks has arrived in west city of Lviv on Saturday after a 24 hour train journey with their guardians.
The 215 childrenranging from toddlers to teenagers, left their orphanage in Zaporijzhia, in southeastern Ukraine, on the day Russian troops attacked a nearby nuclear power plant power station.
“My heart is torn,” said Olha Kucher, director of the central Christian orphanage in Zaporizhzhia. Then she started to sob. “I’m sorry…I’m just at a loss for words. And I’m so sorry for these children. They are so young.”
As night fell and the temperature plummeted, the children waited patiently on a platform at Lviv station, the older ones looking after the younger ones, while the personnel from the orphanage counted them all carefully.
The very young clinging fluff. Any of the children cried or complained.
Vladimir Kovtun, 16, said he now felt safe. “It’s terrifying to stay in Zaporizhzhia when air raid sirens go off and we constantly have to hide in the basement.”
Wide-eyed and main in mainthe children were driven through a ticket crowded room with other Ukrainians. More than 65,000 refugees passed through the station on Friday alone, according to Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovy.
Then, as the snow began to fall, the children boarded a fleet of bus to destination for their new home in neighboring Poland.
It would be several hours before crossing the border. For Kucher, the orphanage director’s perspective of safety for son children after such a difficult journey sparked a mixture of emotions: sadness, relief and rage.
“We don’t want leave Ukraine – we love it,” she said. “But unfortunately we have to leave.”
As the last of the children climbed on buses, Kucher added”Putin is simply killing people … I don’t understand why Russian people can’t believe we’re bombarded – that we and our children are being killed.”
