- AI research uncovers 300 ancient etchings in Peru's Nazca desert
- Brazil's Lula calls Security Council makeup 'unacceptable'
- Alarm grows as Israel launches new 'extensive' strikes on Lebanon
- Carey blasts Australia to 304-7 against England in 3rd ODI
- Biden warns against clinging to power in UN farewell
- Alarm grows as Israel launches new strikes on Lebanon
- Biden warns at UN against 'full-scale war' over Lebanon
- 'Monumental step' as Thai king signs same-sex marriage into law
- French lake still riddled with bombs 80 years after World War II
- Alberta Ferretti quits as creative director at brand she founded
- Two killed in Mexico as Hurricane John weakens to tropical storm
- Multiple arrests after US woman uses machine-assisted suicide in Switzerland
- Dubois will next fight Joshua or Usyk, 'whoever pays me the most'
- Stock markets surge on China stimulus
- Lopetegui ready to learn from mistakes as Liverpool loom in League Cup
- US Fed dissenter warns inflation risks remain 'prominent'
- UN chief warns Lebanon on 'brink' as world leaders gather
- Surprise start for Libbok as Etzebeth set for Springboks record
- Ten Hag says expanded schedules make injuries 'almost unavoidable'
- Liverpool boss Slot praises Alexander-Arnold's defensive work
- Barca coach backs Pena but will debate new goalkeeper signing
- UN says tens of thousands flee Lebanon strikes
- Asian stock markets lead rally on China stimulus
- Arteta stands by defensive tactics in fiery Man City clash
- Tropical Storm John hits Mexico's Pacific coast
- Sri Lanka's new leader appoints cabinet ahead of expected snap polls
- Singapore ex-minister convicted in rare graft trial
- UK town catches Subbuteo fever
- France facing 'one of worst deficits' in its history: minister
- China's Olympic champ Zheng embraces big home expectations
- Biden bids farewell to UN, in shadow of Trump
- All Blacks seek to end Wellington jinx, with Cane poised for 100th cap
- Postbank (Постбанк) анулює рахунки українців у Німеччині
- Meryl Streep says a 'squirrel has more rights' than an Afghan girl
- Postbank terminates accounts of Ukrainians in Germany
- Hong Kong, Shanghai lead markets rally after China stimulus
- Dutch paint giant Akzonobel slashes 2,000 jobs worldwide
- Sri Lanka's new leader to call snap parliamentary polls
- In Ukraine's Pokrovsk, some quietly waiting for Russian troops
- Singapore ex-minister pleads guilty in rare graft trial
- Fishy business caught by fraying India-Bangladesh ties
- US Open champion Sabalenka chases year-end number one ranking
- New Zealand scientists discover ghostly 'spookfish'
- Trump slams early voting, even while urging Pennsylvanians to do so
- Singapore ex-minister pleads guilty to bribery in rare graft trial
- Major Hurricane John hits Mexico's Pacific coast
- IMF says ready for talks with Sri Lanka's new leftist government
- Phillies clinch division title, eye top seed
- Bills trample Jaguars, Commanders claw Bengals
- China unveils fresh stimulus to boost ailing economy
RYCEF | -0.86% | 7 | $ | |
SCS | 0.19% | 13.035 | $ | |
RBGPF | 5.16% | 60.1 | $ | |
CMSC | -0.08% | 25.05 | $ | |
RELX | -0.79% | 48.475 | $ | |
NGG | -0.1% | 70.41 | $ | |
VOD | -0.25% | 10.085 | $ | |
RIO | 4.41% | 67.56 | $ | |
GSK | 0.26% | 40.965 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.22% | 24.95 | $ | |
BTI | 0.52% | 38.1 | $ | |
BCE | -0.4% | 34.96 | $ | |
JRI | 0.31% | 13.342 | $ | |
BCC | -0.5% | 140.94 | $ | |
AZN | -0.14% | 77.035 | $ | |
BP | -0.11% | 32.825 | $ |
Ukraine family tells of epic escape from Mariupol on foot
As Russian bombardments devastated their hometown of Mariupol, Yevgen and Tetiana decided they had only one way to escape with their four children: on foot.
Talking Friday to AFP in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia as they waited for a train westwards, the family recounted through tears and laughter their miraculous 125-kilometre (80-mile) trek to safety.
For weeks as the bombing laid waste to Mariupol, the parents tried to prepare their children Yulia, 6, Oleksandr, 8, Anna, 10, and Ivan, 12, for the perilous journey they faced.
"We explained to them for two months, while we were in the cellar, where we would go... We prepared them for this long journey," said Tetiana Komisarova, 40.
"They saw it as an adventure."
Last Sunday, together with her husband Yevgen Tishchenko, a 37-year-old technician, they finally thought the time had come to make their move.
Nervously, they led the children out of their building. It was the first time they had all left together since the Russian invasion began on February 24.
Around them they found a terrifying scene of utter destruction.
"When the kids saw, they walked in silence," Yevgen said.
"I don't know what was going on in their heads. Maybe they too couldn't believe that our city no longer existed."
- Life underground -
The adults already had a sense of what awaited them. They had snuck out of the house to take food and water from bombed out shops and been confronted by the corpses littering the streets.
"It seemed less frightening to die in a bombing raid than of hunger," said Tetiana.
A shell had hit the roof of their apartment block and For the children life had been lived entirely underground.
"We brought them books in the basement. The light was so dim that I could hardly see, but they managed to read," Tetiana said.
Mischievous 10-year-old Anna described moments of lightness playing with friends from a neighbouring flat.
"Sleeping on the concrete was not great," recalled the ponytailed girl.
She insisted bravely that when the bombs fell "we weren't so scared".
"The building was shaking a lot and there was a lot of dust," she said. "It was not pleasant to breathe."
- Leaving Mariupol -
Finally leaving the basement and the city was "hard", said Anna.
"We had to carry our bags and they were heavy," she told AFP.
That was on the first day, at least, before her dad discovered what the family christened "the golden cart."
In reality, it was a rusted and creaking three-wheeled trolley -- but it made the walk much easier.
"My wife pushed our youngest girl on her tricycle. And I pushed the cart, often with one of the children perched on the bags," Yevgen said. "The other two walked beside me."
In five days and four nights of travel, the family passed through numerous Russian checkpoints, telling the soldiers that they were heading to their relatives.
"They didn't treat us as enemies, they tried to help," Yevgen said.
"But every time they asked us: 'Where are you from? From Mariupol? But why are you going in this direction, why aren't you going to Russia?'"
At night, the family slept in the homes of local people who opened their doors along the route and were well fed.
During the day, they moved on, against all odds.
Eventually they got lucky and came across Dmytro Zhirnikov, who was driving through Polohy, a Russian-occupied town located about 100 kilometres from Zaporizhzhia.
"I saw this family pushing a cart on the side of the road," said Zhirnikov, who regularly travels Zaporizhzhia to sell the vegetables his family produces.
"I stopped and told them to put their things in my trailer."
After 125 kilometres on foot, Tetiana, Yevgen, and their little ones finished their journey in his battered van.
Zhirnikov remembered the elation they felt when they emerged from Russian-controlled territory and saw Ukrainian soldiers.
"When we passed the first checkpoint, everyone started crying," he said.
"We had just one goal: that our children could live in Ukraine. They are Ukrainians, we can't imagine that they could live in another country," Tetiana insisted.
On Friday, the family crammed themselves and their meagre possessions into a crowded train heading for the western city of Lviv.
They then plan to move to Ivano-Frankivsk, another large city in western Ukraine, to try to rebuild a normal life.
"I want to find a job. My wife will take care of the children and try to find them a school," Yevgen said.
"We can never forget what we have been through. We must not. But we must keep our spirits up and raise our little ones."
Their daughter Anna described her own simple wishes after escaping the hell of Mariupol.
"I want to live in a city that is not like that," she said. "And in Ukraine."
W.Lapointe--BTB