Already safe and in the care of Rokada: 70-year-old woman walked for half a day to escape shelling

A cat named Knopka is all that 70-year-old Mariia Tymoshenko has left from her past life. The pensioner was recently evacuated from the frontline town of Kupiansk. According to the latest data, around 300 residents still remain in the town.

Mariia Volodymyrivna’s journey lasted more than 12 hours — on foot and with her cat in her arms. Currently, the woman is safe and is preparing to go abroad for the first time in her life.

“My son Oleh died last December. I would not have left my hometown, away from him, but there was no life under the constant shelling. In the end, I agreed to evacuate. We walked for almost 12 hours. I remember this journey like a nightmare,” Mariia Tymoshenko says.

Eventually, the pensioner reached a transit center in Kharkiv. There, she met the Rokada team.

“It was my lucky ticket because I had absolutely no idea what to do next,” she admits.

Yuliia Savenkova, a social specialist at the regional office, says they helped Mariia Volodymyrivna primarily with documents and essential items.

“She was virtually without any belongings — wearing just a housecoat and holding her cat,” Yuliia Savenkova recalls.

While the evacuee was staying at the transit centre, the Rokada team also took Knopka under their care.

“We took the cat to get vaccinated, as very soon she will leave for Germany together with her owner. Maria’s sister lives there, so they are both preparing. The woman has lined up for the first passport of her life, while Knopka will receive hers — an international pet passport — in a few months,” the social specialist continues.

“I would never have abandoned her. My son brought her home when she was just a tiny kitten. If it were not for her, I do not know what would have happened to me. In the first days after Oleh’s death, she would come to me, purr, comfort me, and lie on the sofa where she used to sleep with my son,” Mariia Tymoshenko says, adding that in far-off Germany, despite everything, she wants to start a new life. “I hope everything works out, even though the past does not let go.”