A recon drone of a Ukrainian artillery unit drone spotted the mum with kids on the top of their flooded house and dropped water to the trapped family before organizing a rescue mission
Russian troops prevent Ukraine from helping evacuate civilians trapped in houses flooded by the flood they unleashed by blowing up the Kakhovka dam, but the Ukrainian army found a way to organize a rescue mission for a stranded mom with kids who begged for help from the roof of her house.
A drone operator with the callsign Santa told how the delivery of drinking water was organized to the stranded family.
Ukrainian army rescues mom and kids trapped on roof in flooded Russian-occupied territory
Soldier with callsign "Santa" explains how they dropped water bottles to the stranded family and manged to evacuate them from Russian occupationhttps://t.co/ln026ctgM6 pic.twitter.com/6FENwYkqXP
— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) June 11, 2023
The Ukrainian Ministry of Interior shared photos of the rescued mom and children, explaining that thanks to a UAV, soldiers of an artillery brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine found the family and supported them by delivering drinking water.
“The left bank of the Kherson region is under the fire control of the Russians. It is extremely difficult and dangerous for Ukrainian forces to get there. But our soldiers found ways to evacuate this family. The woman and her children were successfully evacuated and handed over to doctors and juvenile police. The survivors were provided with the necessary medical care and a safe place to stay,” the MIA wrote.
Credit: Ukraine’s MIA
TSN tracked down the saved mom and interviewed her, revealing the details of an astonishing rescue story. The woman and her two children were pleading for help on the roof of their house in the left-bank part of Kherson, which was flooded due to the detonation of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Station.
The Ukrainian military first dropped a water bottle to the family from a drone, and then the defense forces rescued them on a boat.
The woman, identified as Kateryna Krupich, mentioned how they heard the drone while sitting on the roof and started waving to identify themselves. Her son, Maksym, suggested using a towel to wave. They later asked the rescuers if they were aware of their location or were simply surveying the area, to which they replied that they were surveying. Krupich clarified that the location was between Oleshky and Kherson.
Regarding the water bottle dropped from the drone, Krupich revealed that multiple bottles were dropped, but they couldn’t catch them due to the wind. The bottles flew onto the roof and then into the water. Krupich expressed regret, saying, “Only later, when I realized that I would be able to catch a bottle, another one was dropped.”
She described the flooding events, stating that she didn’t expect the water to rise so quickly. She mentioned that at 5:30 am, a guard informed them that the hydroelectric power station had exploded, and the water started rising rapidly. They tried not to panic, but it was a situation they had never experienced before, unsure of how to act. Initially, they went to their neighbors, but the second floor of their house started flooding, so they moved to other neighbors who allowed them to stay. They were evacuated by a rescue boat from 21:00 on June 6 until 16:30 on June 7. Krupich expressed gratitude to her friends and acquaintances who arranged their evacuation.
Krupich also mentioned the relief her children felt upon the arrival of the rescuers. She said, “We couldn’t believe that we were sailing to Kherson. The landscape had changed drastically, and it was difficult to understand where we were.” When asked about the Russian troops who were staying nearby in the occupied part of the left bank, she simply replied, “They ran away.”
Summarizing her experience, Krupich stated that she would now be living with her parents. She found it hard to believe they were finally home after spending seven months on the island. She called their successful rescue a miracle, believing that God guided them through. She added, “I never believed everything would happen so quickly.”
This is not the first story when the Ukrainian army managed to save civilians with the help of drones. For instance, last summer they led a woman to safety with the help of a drone in the Kharkiv Oblast.
Ukrainian military drone leads woman to safety amidst enemy fire
18 cubic kilometers of water gushed out of the dam of the destroyed Kakhovka Hydropower Plant when the dam was destroyed in the night of 6 June, flooding the villages in the delta of the Dnipro.
Ukraine accuses Russia of blowing up the dam from within, a statement supported by seismic stations registering the explosion, earwitnesses hearing it, Russian soldiers telling about it, and engineers telling it is the only possible way to destroy such a sturdy construction.
Related:
- Earwitnesses recall hearing explosions on night when Nova Kakhovka dam collapsed
- Seismic signals indicate Kakhovka dam explosion – NORSAR
- Russian sabotage group blew up Kakhovka dam; it didn’t go as planned, SBU intercept alleges
- Kakhovka Dam was built to withstand nuclear strike, couldn’t be destroyed from outside – Ukrhydroproject engineering company
- Ukrainian military drone leads woman to safety amidst enemy fire
