86-year-old Ukrainian woman evacuated to safety: “Today, I will finally feel calm”
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An elderly woman who was stuck in a frontline Ukrainian town that underwent heavy shelling has been evacuated to safety.
86-year-old Lidia from Avdiivka, Ukraine, told CNN’s Clarissa Ward on Thursday that she was spending her nights in pitch darkness while praying for an end to war.
“’I never imagined that my end would be like this,’ she says. ‘You can’t even die here because there’s no one to provide a burial ceremony,’” Ward reported, translating the woman’s words.
There was an outpouring of people all over the world wanting to help her after her story was told, Ward said. She was able to connect Lidia with a care home in Dnipro, she said.
“Today, I will finally feel calm,” Lidia told Ward as she hugged Ward and kissed her hand at the care facility.
It wasn’t easy to be evacuated, Ward said, translating her remarks, as there was a lot of shelling. It took six hours to make the journey west, and at one point, she and the volunteers had to pull over to wait for a few hours in a safe house, according to Ward.
Lidia’s son lives in Russia, Ward said, and she was hoping to finally get through to him today to tell him she has been evacuated.
