An 11-year-old boy who braved a 600-mile journey from southeastern Ukraine to the Slovakian border has spoken of his happiness after being reunited with his siblings.
Hassan travelled alone with only a plastic bag, passport, and telephone number scribbled on his hand, in a story that made international headlines.
His mother Júlia Pisecká, a widow, remained in their hometown of Zaporizhzhia, where Russian troops struck a nuclear power plant last week. She wasn’t able to travel with her son because she is caring for her elderly and immobile mother who is unable to flee.
When Hassan reached the border his ‘smile, fearlessness and determination’ won over officials who helped him cross into Slovakia.
They managed to contact his family in the country using the phone number and a note that was tied to his waist.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain via video link, Hassan and his four older siblings spoke of their joy at being reunited in Bratislava.
In one poignant moment, the boy said he ‘isn’t thinking about the future’ and is happy to be ‘safe’.
His older sister, who translated his words, told the show: ‘He says the most important is to be in the place where he has family.
‘He likes this city because it’s safe. He doesn’t know about the future because he doesn’t know about the situation in Ukraine. He is not thinking about the future, he just wants to be with us.’
Hassan’s story gained global attention after it emerged he made the lengthy journey unaccompanied with few personal possessions.
His mother put him on a train heading for the border in the hope he would be taken in by kind-hearted strangers.
In a video, Yulia said: ‘There’s a nuclear power plant next to my town, which the Russians were shooting at. It was on fire.
‘I can’t leave my mother, she can’t move independently, so I sent my son alone on a train toward the Slovak border.
‘There, he met people with a big heart. A small country has people with big hearts. Please save our Ukrainian children and give them a safe haven.’
The boy was picked up by volunteers at the border who looked after him and gave him food and drink.
It is unclear when Hassan’s siblings left for Slovakia but they confirmed their worried mother remains in Ukraine.
Asked about the scariest part of his journey, Hassan said it was travelling in a crowded train carriage surrounded by strangers.
‘The train was very, very full, there were 300 people in one carriage,’ his sister translated.
‘The kids and the people were sitting in the hall and everyone was talking in foreign languages and he wasn’t understanding so that was the scariest [part of the journey] for him.’
The siblings told how they were worried for their youngest brother’s safety when he fled Ukraine, noting that before the war he hadn’t even wanted to spend a night away from home at summer camp because he had been too afraid.
One sibling said: ‘I wasn’t believing it because he’s the youngest in our family and he can’t even make tea by himself so I was very, very worried when he was going to cross the border by himself. He doesn’t even visit summer camp because he can’t leave us.’
One of the 11-year-old’s older brothers said the family are ‘very, very happy’ because ‘nothing happened to him, he is healthy’ and added jokingly: ‘And now I can tease him’.
The children said their thoughts are with their mother, telling GMB: ‘Everyone who was with her her whole life, we all left her all in one moment.’
But they added: ‘She is so happy that Hassan is with us.’
Hassan’s story went viral after it was shared on social media by the Slovakia Interior Ministry.
A Facebook post read: ‘Volunteers took care of him, took him warm and provided him with food and drink, which they packed for the next trip.
‘He won them all over with his smile, fearlessness and determination, worthy of a true hero.
‘Thanks to the number on the hand and a piece of paper in the waist, we managed to contact relatives who came for him later and the whole story ended well.’
In another post, the country’s interior minister Roman Mikulec wrote: ‘Little Hassan is only 11 years old, but in his way he has shown huge determination, courage and fearlessness that sometimes adults don’t have.
‘I am really very sorry for him and all the other children and their families who have to flee their country because of what is happening in Ukraine.’
The politician added that Slovakia is ‘ready to help’ those fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
‘You will find security with us and if you ask for temporary protection, you will be provided with health care, social security, food, accommodation, education and job opportunities.
‘The fact that you ask for temporary protection in Slovakia does not mean that you will not be able to travel to other EU countries.’
More than 2.3 million people have fled the war in Ukraine and an estimated 1.9 million are displaced within the country, a UN official said on Thursday.
The British public will be asked to open their homes to Ukrainian refugees under new plans to be announced next week.
Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove will set out on Monday details of a new ‘sponsored’ humanitarian route to allow Ukrainians without family links to the UK to come here.
The scheme follows criticism that the UK’s response has been painfully slow in the face of the biggest refugee crisis in Europe since the Second World War.
Unlike EU counterparts, Britain requires those seeking refuge from the fighting in Ukraine to have a valid visa upon arrival. It has announced two new visa routes since the war began, but only one for people with family in the UK is currently operational.
Yesterday, Home Secretary Priti Patel announced that from Tuesday, Ukranians can apply for their visas online and will no longer have to go to a processing centre.
However, the British Red Cross said the quickest way of fixing the problem would be to remove the requirement for a visa, while the Refugee Council said Ms Patel’s announcement ‘does not go anywhere near far enough’.
Russia-Ukraine war: Everything you need to know
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, the country has suffered widespread damages and loss of life amid a major bombing campaign.
Over two million Ukrainian refugees have fled, as cities face shortages of food, water, heat, and medicine - with the British public set to be asked to open their homes to Ukrainian refugees.
Countries have retaliated by imposing sanctions on Russia and oligarchs such as Roman Abramovich, while large companies like Disney, Starbucks, McDonald's, and Coca-Cola have suspended business in the country.
However, despite these economic blows, Russian President Vladimir Putin hasn't shown any signs of calling off the attack anytime soon, with attacks targeting radioactive labs.
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