‘A REAL HERO’

11-Year-Old Ukrainian Refugee Makes 600-Mile Journey to Slovakia Alone

The boy, whose mother had to stay behind in Ukraine to look after her disabled parent, was eventually united with family members.

A boy from southeast Ukraine is being hailed as “a real hero” after he made a perilous solo journey of nearly 700 miles to Slovakia, according to authorities there. The 11-year-old had with him only a plastic bag, a passport, and a telephone number written on his hand, according to The Guardian. His mother, Yulia Pisetskaya, said in a Facebook video message on Sunday that she had placed the child on a train out of Zaporizhzhia but needed to stay behind to look after her own disabled parent. The boy was looked after by Slovakian border guards, according to the Slovak interior ministry, and authorities were able to track down his relatives living in the capital city. The 11-year-old “won everybody’s hearts with his smile, fearlessness and determination, worthy of a real hero,” according to the ministry. “The boy was cared for by many,” a police spokesperson told Agence France-Presse, “be it policemen, soldiers, customs officers or volunteers and various religious or civil organizations.” The child is one of reportedly more than 1.7 million refugees who have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on Feb. 24.