In Ukraine, a 98-year-old Ukrainian walked for miles to protect himself from the Russians, wearing slippers and a cane.

kyiv, Ukraine (AP) — A 98-year-old Ukrainian woman who fled Russian-occupied territory by walking nearly 10 kilometers (6 miles) alone, wearing a pair of slippers and supported by a cane, has been reunited with her family . after being separated while fleeing to safety.

Lidia Stepanivna Lomikovska and her family decided to leave the frontline town of Ocheretyne in the eastern Donetsk region last week after Russian troops entered and fighting intensified.

The Russians have advanced in the region, pounding exhausted and ammunition-starved kyiv forces with artillery, drones and bombs.

“I woke up surrounded by gunfire everywhere, it’s so scary,” Lomikovska said in a video interview released by the Donetsk region national police.

In the chaos of the departure, Lomikovska was separated from her son and two daughters-in-law, one of whom, Olha Lomikovska, was injured by shrapnel a few days earlier. The younger members of the family took side roads, but Lydia wanted to stay on the main road.

With a cane in one hand and steadying herself with a splintered piece of wood in the other, the retiree walked all day without food or water to reach the Ukrainian lines.

Describing her journey, the nonagenarian said she fell twice and was forced to stop to rest at times, even sleeping along the way before waking up and continuing her journey.

“I once lost my balance and fell into the weeds. I fell asleep… a little and continued walking. And then, for the second time, once again, I fell. But then I got up and thought: “I have to keep walking, little by little,” Lomikovska said.

Pavlo Diachenko, acting spokesman for the Ukrainian national police in the Donetsk region, said Lomikovska was rescued when Ukrainian soldiers spotted her walking along the road in the evening. They handed her over to the “White Angels,” a police group that evacuates citizens living on the front lines, who then took her to an evacuee shelter and contacted her relatives.

“I survived that war,” she said, referring to World War II. “I too had to go through this war, and in the end, I found myself with nothing.

“That war was not like this. I saw that war. Not a single house burned. But now everything is on fire,” she told her rescuer.

In the latest twist in the story, the general director of one of Ukraine’s largest banks announced on Tuesday on his Telegram channel that the bank would buy a house for the retiree.

“Monobank will buy a house from Lydia Stepanivna and she will surely live there until this abomination disappears from our country,” Oleh Horokhovskyi said.

___

Associated Press writer Volodmyr Yurchuk in kyiv contributed to this story.