Ukrainian Soldier Helps Child Trapped in Kursk Return to Mother in Russia

Photo: ANDREY BORODULIN / AFP / Scanpix

8th December 2024, 18:04

When Ukraine's military launched a surprise incursion into Russia in August, three-year-old Darina Gridina and her 78-year-old great-grandmother suddenly found themselves trapped behind the front line.

Darina was staying with her great-grandmother because her mother, Anastassia, was seeking work in Moscow. Due to the surprise attack, the young child was forced to spend months in a partially destroyed school building in the town of Sudzha, which had come under Ukrainian control.

Last week, mother and daughter were reunited after Kyiv, under a rare agreement, returned 46 civilians to Russia. The family expressed gratitude to a Ukrainian man who helped Darina reunite with her mother.

"I am very grateful to him," said 21-year-old Anastassia to AFP near Moscow.

Darina, holding a plastic toy horse, was in her arms. Anastassia referred to a Ukrainian war correspondent named Aleksei, but AFP confirmed he serves in Ukraine’s armed forces.

Since direct contact across the front line was impossible, Aleksei acted as an intermediary between Anastassia and Darina.

"Aljosha [Aleksei] came and showed a video from Nastya," said Darina’s silver-haired great-grandmother, Tatiana Gridina, to AFP. Aleksei showed Darina videos sent by Anastassia and sent back videos of Darina to her mother. Tatiana recounted how Anastassia cried constantly in the videos, desperate because she couldn’t speak directly to her daughter.

Four months later, Aleksei contacted Anastassia again for a different kind of video. He needed Anastassia's consent to move Darina to the city of Sumy in Ukraine so she could travel through Belarus to reach her mother in Russia. She agreed.

Anastassia Gridina and her three-year-old daughter Darina. Photo: ANDREY BORODULIN / AFP / Scanpix

"If he hadn’t taken them, they wouldn’t have gone on their own," Anastassia said. "He was the first to help."

Tatiana explained that Aleksei also tried to persuade other residents from occupied villages in the Kursk region to undertake a similar journey. However, people were afraid, fearing potential repercussions.

Ukrainian forces transported everyone who agreed to the city of Sumy, located approximately 40 kilometers from the international border. From there, with the help of the Red Cross, they were moved to Belarus before eventually reaching Russia.

"When she saw me, she said 'Mommy' and smiled," Anastassia recalled about the first moment she reunited with her daughter.

For Darina, the ordeal has left a profound impact. According to Anastassia, her daughter struggles to sleep, fearing that she might wake up abandoned and alone.

Tatiana recounted that the partially destroyed school building became a shelter for nearly a hundred people from nearby villages.

"One wing was completely destroyed, the other was still standing. We lived there in those rooms," she said, offering rare insight into life on Ukrainian-occupied Russian territories.

Sudzha, the largest town captured by Ukraine, was still far safer than living in nearby villages.

Tatiana and Darina initially lived in Kazachya Loknya, but they were evacuated as Ukrainian forces began digging trenches near their home.

Life in Sudzha had come to a standstill, with all the shops destroyed, Tatiana said.

The 78-year-old Tatiana shared her experiences of life in Sudzha. Photo: ANDREY BORODULIN / AFP / Scanpix

The 78-year-old woman searched for clothes for Darina in an abandoned market, where only a few scraps of clothing remained. "When I walked there, the roads were covered with glass from shattered buildings," she said.

Conditions in the dormitory were harsh. "The military provided bread, canned meat, and other preserved foods," said the pensioner, noting that it was just enough to prevent anyone from going hungry.

Those who could manage cooked their own meals, despite the gas being shut off. "There was no electricity. In the evenings, we sat in darkness," she added. "I had a children's prayer book, and we prayed for the war to end quickly."

Now living far from the conflict in the Moscow region, Tatiana was asked whether Ukrainian soldiers treated her with dignity.

"Yes," she replied.

The pensioner described the unusual coexistence between Ukrainian soldiers and Russian civilians, even recounting how she tried to teach the young soldiers about the history of the Russian Empire.

She said they found common ground on one thing: a shared wish for the nearly three-year war to end. "We told them we were tired," she said, adding that the Ukrainians agreed. "Who needs this? No one—neither Ukrainians nor us Russians," she remarked. "But who will clean up this mess? I don’t know."