He was her only bond with her family while she was in Donetsk. In the Okhmatdyt hospital in Kiev, Kira cares about the only asset of her father that she managed to keep after his death: her cell phone. Undaunted, Oleksander immediately embarked, as instructed, on what would be a grueling four-day journey, taking a train to Poland, a flight to Turkey, a second flight to Moscow, followed by a train ride to the city of Rostov in southern Russia before finally reached a tearful Kira after another drive to Donetsk, he said.Īfter an emotional reunion – with countless close hugs, they said – the couple then left home, taking the same long route on the leg back to Kiev. After media coverage of her plight, the Ukrainian government told her grandfather that it had reached an agreement that would allow him to travel to Donetsk to pick up his granddaughter, but that it would not be an easy feat.

Recovering Kira from territory controlled by Moscow-backed separatists was no easy task.

Oleksander said he told Zelensky that Kira was “tired but happy” and thanked him for the safe return of his niece. On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Kira in the hospital to celebrate her return, even giving her an iPad to entertain her as she recovers.

Grandfather escape hospital