When the special operation began, Alyona from the village of Malinovka and Anastasia Kuzmina from Starodubovka were in their last month of pregnancy.

According to them, they were supposed to give birth in a maternity hospital in Mariupol.

However, after the outbreak of hostilities, the hospital refused to accept them, since they began to equip their positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Mariupol medical institutions.

As a result, doctors from Donetsk helped the women.

After the militants were blocked in Mariupol, RT helped mothers with newborn children return home.

There was no connection

As Alena from Malinovka tells RT, she was supposed to give birth in the Mariupol maternity hospital No. 3, however, according to her, after the start of the special operation, it was occupied by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

“Literally a week after the start of the special operation, it became clear to me that I would not give birth in Mariupol.

There was hope that everything would stabilize by the end of March.

But the further, the worse it was, - Alena recalls.

- I had to either go to Zaporozhye, or give birth in Volodarsk.

But the doctor who led me did her best, and they took me out of the house in an ambulance and took me to Donetsk.”

According to Alena, it was scary to go to Donetsk: there was no communication with her relatives, and she could not even tell them about her state of health and whether everything was all right with her.

  • RT

“In Donetsk, they immediately put me in storage for two weeks.

During this time, they examined me as soon as possible.

When the contractions started, he was transferred to the delivery room.

Everything went so fast, I didn't even realize it.

So on April 2, my son Denis was born, ”Alena tells RT.

According to her, the husband gave the name to the baby.

“I chose the name of the eldest daughter, and he said that he would name his son.

He thought for a very long time and decided that the boy's name would be Denis.

He said that his brother’s name was that and that there would now be two Denis in the family, ”she says.

According to the woman, after giving birth, the question arose of returning to her native village.

There was no way to contact her relatives, and she did not even know if she could get to them and if there were safe routes.

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Walked on foot

In the maternity hospital, Alena met Anastasia from Starodubovka, who ended up in Donetsk under similar circumstances.

As Nastya herself told RT, at the time the hostilities began, she was in Mariupol.

But on March 26, her family decided to evacuate the city, which was in intense fighting.

As the woman notes, they got out of Mariupol on foot, and soldiers of the Armed Forces of the DPR helped them get to Donetsk.  

“At first, my husband and daughter sat in a house in Mariupol.

It wasn't cold, the stove was on.

My brother brought food.

It didn't hit our house.

Then my brother brought my mother, - says Anastasia.

- When the time came for childbirth, we decided to send our daughter with her mother to Starodubovka.

Before her from Mariupol walked.

It was hard for me - they asked for help from the military of the DPR.

They took us.

Then my husband and I went to Donetsk.”

According to Nastya, she really liked the attitude of doctors in Donetsk.

The birth was successful - the boy was born healthy.

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Soon after the birth, the family decided to return to Starodubovka.

However, it was not clear how to do this and how safe it is to travel on the roads.

RT correspondents met Alena and Nastya when they were handing over humanitarian aid to doctors.

The women said that they could not leave Donetsk, and RT provided them with a car.

Since the women could not contact their relatives, their appearance came as a surprise to relatives. 

“We didn't even know anything.

So they left, and here we were crying and worried whether everything was fine, ”Nastya’s relatives do not hold back their tears when they meet.

Anastasia's five-year-old daughter, Yana, says that before moving to Starodubovka, she was in Mariupol and heard shelling.

When asked if it was scary, the girl nods and recalls how a plane flew over the city.

“Flew ... and like this - bang!

And I cried,” says the girl.

She also says that she would like to return home.  

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Anastasia's father says that because of these events he lost contact with his sons, and asked to tell them that he is doing well.

“My two sons left for Russia in 2014.

Since then, I have not seen them, - says Grigory Viktorovich.

“When it all started, there was no work, nothing.

In Russia, they are well settled.

Now, maybe the children will be able to visit.”