Mariupol Railroad Rescues Family

Anna (not her real name) gave birth to her seventh child in Mariupol on February 24, 2022, the day Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. A few weeks later, the family was sound asleep when a Russian missile hit their apartment building at 4 a.m. To the sound of her husband and four of her children screaming as they burned alive, Anna was able to get two of her children out of the kitchen window to a rescuer on the roof before passing out. The rescuer managed to pull Anna and one more child out of the burning apartment, and she and the three children spent days in the hospital recovering from their burns and other injuries.

When the Russians started shelling the hospital, they lived for a month in a nearby bunker during the tragic siege of Mariupol. After more hospital visits in Donetsk, they returned to Mariupol to confirm that the rest of their family did indeed perish in the apartment fire. This fateful decision landed them in one of Russia’s notorious filtration camps, where Ukrainians are routinely harassed, sometimes tortured, and all too often deported to Russia.

Your donations rescued Anna, her nine-year-old daughter, three-year-old son, and newborn from the camp and transported them to relative safety in central Ukraine, where they are staying with family members. 

PLEASE help us rescue more people from Mariupol by donating today