Ukrainian MP reveals heartbreaking letter left by mother in refugee child’s backpack | World News
A Ukrainian MP spoke of hugging a broken-up child from his parents, who had a note in his backpack that read “please keep him safe”.
Kira Rudyk, who is in the UK to meet Defense Secretary Ben Wallace on Monday, told Sophy Ridge on Sunday the heartbreaking stories of children displaced by the Russian invasion. Ukraine.
She said that there was a group of children in the besieged city of Mariupol whose parents had to hand over their children and they gave them backpacks – blue for boys, pink for girls.
“They put small bills in there and then gave them to strangers to keep them safe,” she said.
“They say ‘just keep them safe’ and tell them ‘whatever happens just hold on to your backpack’.
“Then at the refugee center, you’re holding this child and you’re telling them ‘give it to me, open it and see what’s there’.
“And he said ‘no, mummy told me not to, mummy told me not to and will I ever see my mummy again?’
“Then when you opened it – the same thing probably happened during the Second World War – they wrote down little things like: the mummy loves you, this is your last name, this is your first name, this is your paperwork. him, his address and please keep him safe.
“This is what I want for the children of Ukraine, for them to be safe.”
Ms Rudyk also told a moving story about a girl who asked her mother “a question no one can answer – are we mummies now refugees?”.
“How can you talk to a kid about that?” she added.
Ukrainian war refugees at Prague’s main railway station
The MP also called on the British government to supply Ukraine with missiles when they are “extremely needed” because the Russians are advancing in eastern Ukraine and blocking ports, which are preventing the export of grain, potatoes and sunflower oil.
“There is a very high demand right now for a humanitarian mission to be able to tap into all these products,” she said.
“I know you guys are having higher food prices. The stores are short of sunflower oil – and you know why? It’s because it’s all in Ukraine now.
“The world currently only has a 10-week supply of grain. Politicians around the world need to find a way to harvest all that Ukraine has.”
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Silo full of grain stuck in Ukraine
Ms Rudyk added that she was “humbly asking” the government to make it easier for Ukrainian refugees to obtain visas to enter the UK.
She said the current process is “too bureaucratic, lengthy and complicated”.
“Processes have been relaxed in Canada, so I’m just a question mark as to why the UK hasn’t – that’s for sure,” she added.
