An 84-year-old Ukrainian man saved his family: “I don’t want my grandchildren playing with bullets”

Escaping from their home village, which was being shelled by Russian troops, the elderly driver covered the longest distance in his entire life.

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Valentin Mykolayovich, the only person in his family with a driver’s license, drove to safety his son, daughter-in-law, three grandchildren, and a dog.

As we read on the Facebook account of UNICEF Ukraine, “For nearly a month the entire family was hiding in a makeshift bomb shelter in the Ukrainian village of Stepove, Zaporozhye District. After the kids’ mother nearly died and the family ran out of food, the grandfather, the only driver in the family, took his son, daughter-in-law, three grandchildren, and their dog to Ivano-Frankivsk.”

The trip, which took a few days, was by far the longest distance he has driven in his entire life. “As a child I played with ammo and I do not want my grandchildren to live through it, too,” said the 84-year-old man. They are safe now, yet the whole family worries whether they are going to come back to their home again.