Hassan, the 11-year-old Ukrainian boy who escaped from the country to Slovakia with only his passport, a phone written in his hand and a backpack, he has already reunited with his mother and grandmother in the host country.
“Everyone was nervous about the war and it was difficult to travel around Ukraine” , the youngster told CNN reporter Don Lemon.
It took the boy between three and four days to reach Slovakia.
His mother, Julia Pisecka, let him go ahead on the road as she had to take care of her sick mother and feared for her safety. Hassan.
“I was very scared”, confessed the boy.
“I felt horrible. I really wanted to cry, because I’ve always been with my mom, and this is the first time I had to separate from her”, she added.
When he had to leave his home in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, his mother wished him luck.
“She wished me good luck and that I wouldn’t be crying and sad”, the boy recalled.
When asked if he felt worried at that moment, he replied: “Of course. , always worried”.
During the journey, the boy called his mother several times to inform her that he was fine; he also communicated with his brothers who were waiting for him in the Slovak capital, Bratislava.
“Yes, I called them and let them know where I was”, narrated the boy.
Upon arrival in the country that received him as a refugee , the minor met his older brothers who had fled Ukraine early after the Russian invasion.
This Tuesday, the Ukrainian and his brothers managed to reunite with their mother who was finally able to move to the country.
In the official Facebook page of the police in Slovakia, photos of Hassan with his five brothers, his mother and his grandmother can be seen.
“Hassan spent more than a day on a train“, detailed the authorities in the social network. “He had his brother’s phone number written on his hand,” they added.
The United Nations (UN) calculates that in less than three weeks, the number of Ukrainians who leave the country to take refuge in neighboring countries increased from 520,11 to more than 3.1 million.
While between 24 February and 15 March, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights recorded 1,900 civilian deaths. Of these, 52 are children.