The assistance of a Turkish driver saved four sisters from a grim fate in war-torn Ukraine and reunited them with their mother in Antalya, a southern Turkish province.
Olha Yeromchenko was stuck in Antalya when the Russia-Ukraine war began, with her four daughters staying with their grandparents back in Ukraine. The young girls and grandparents noticed by a Turkish driver who was in Ukraine to evacuate Turkish nationals, were given a ride to Turkey after the driver contacted the Foreign Ministry last week.
Yeromchenko reunited with her family on Saturday and was grateful to everyone who helped her daughters, aged between 5 and 12 and her elderly parents. The girls were living in Kharkiv with their grandparents while Yeromchenko, who was in Antalya when the war broke out, could not return home.
The mother hugged her daughters when they arrived at Antalya’s bus terminal and handed them toys, seeking to comfort the emotional girls. She told Anadolu Agency (AA) that she had arrived in Antalya for vacation on Feb. 18 and found out about the war six days later. "I wanted to go back but all flights were canceled and we were told to continue staying in our hotel here. I heard my house had collapsed and my family was staying in shelter. I wanted to bring them, including my father who is living with Alzheimer’s, here to Turkey," she said. The family was at a train station when the Turkish driver noticed the girls crying as they were seeking a way out of the country.
Yeromchenko said they lost everything and could not go back. "We will begin our lives again but we don’t know how to do it," she said.
Her mother Alexandra said they found themselves caught in the crossfire and an attack hit their home, which subsequently caught fire. "They were attacking everywhere, from kindergartens to schools. They did not discriminate between civilians or soldiers. People were fleeing. I have never thought Russia would attack civilians. We remained in a shelter for a long time and a Turk saved us," she said.
