The escape is 9 years long

In the photo mother Oksana holds her almost one and half year old son Bohdan in her arms. In total, the Bliznyuk family has four children, the eldest of whom has just turned 13. In a moment, they will all leave their native Donetsk region on the Save Ukraine evacuation bus.

For 9 years, the family moved around the region from city to city, fleeing from the war. Victor’s father even nicknamed his family “travelers”, describing the grueling survival path they had to go through. It all started in 2014, when the city where the couple lived, was occupied by the Russians. Then the family was forced to flee to Bakhmut, where they gradually restored their life and faith in the future. The birth of little Bohdan also contributed to this belief.

However, in two months, a full-scale war began andthe Blyznyuk family found themselves in one of the most violent districts of the city. Then, in front of the children, enemy shells tore apart cars, destroyed houses and apartments. Such were their last memories of Bakhmut. Escaping from horrors, the family went to Chasiv Yar. But even here, after several months of peace, they were overtaken by Russian shelling.

Exhausted by constant fear for their children’s lives, Oksana and Viktor decided to leave Donetsk as soon as possible. So rescuers from Save Ukraine came to their aid. We took a family from a front-line town along with their pets – a parrot and a guinea pig. And then they put the Bliznyuk family on an evacuation train to Lviv.

We believe that there their long journey to survival will finally stop and parents and children will be able to regain peace of mind in safety.