Ukrainian soldiers evacuate last resident of Mala Tokmachka after five-month rescue operation

Ukrainian troops have rescued the last resident of the village of Mala Tokmachka in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Svitlana Podolska, 64, spent five months with the soldiers before finally reaching safer territory.

Source: 118th Separate Mechanised Brigade on Facebook

Details: Svitlana decided to leave her native village after a Russian drone killed the last man living there. The tragedy occurred on 10 April: the man had gone out to look for cigarettes when a Russian UAV caught up with him.

The woman was left as the sole resident of Mala Tokmachka. Russian forces attacked her property with drones seven times.

Despite the danger, Svitlana did not want to leave her home until the very last moment. She tended her vegetable garden, fed her pig, goats and chickens, and hoped that the war would soon end.

"Until the very last moment, I kept watch over my house. I had my vegetable garden. I fed the pig, goats and chickens. I thought, what if the war ends tomorrow? How could I just leave everything behind now?" Svitlana said.

However, after her house was completely destroyed, the woman turned to the Ukrainian military for help with evacuating her.

The evacuation took five months. Due to weather conditions, the large number of Russian drones and mined roads, military vehicles could not reach the place where the woman was staying.

It was only in late September, when morning fogs began to descend over the Tavriia steppes, that Svitlana set off on foot towards safer territory with soldiers from the 118th Separate Mechanised Brigade and two dogs.

The soldiers – Viking, Stef, Sichen and Viktor – spent almost a month covering the dangerous route with the woman. To avoid being spotted by Russian UAVs, they moved in short dashes, mostly at dusk. During the journey, they crossed the river by swimming three times.

"At the time, I was very afraid Viktor would drown. He was wearing body armour, and he also had me to carry. I got tangled up in the wire, so he rescued me. I was very worried about becoming a burden to them, about letting them down. I still don't know how I survived it and made it there," Svitlana recalled.

She said that during their journey together, she and the soldiers had become like family to one another.

The group reached safety on 21 October. Svitlana is now staying with her daughter. Soldiers from the 1st Mechanised Battalion of the 118th Brigade helped her rent accommodation.

Background: Earlier, we reported on an 84-year-old resident of Kherson who walked 6 km to escape the city, where he had been living in isolation for six months because of Russian attacks.

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