This is the moment Ukrainian policemen go around the streets of Bakhmut to deliver humanitarian goods to children whose families have not yet evacuated the city, and spread some joy alongside the ‘White Angels’.
Despite constant shelling, law enforcement officers managed to find the time to join the ‘White Angels’ police crew and greet the local children living in the front-line city in honour of St Nicholas Day, a national holiday in Ukraine.
The holiday is often associated with Christmas, as it is a traditional practice to be giving gifts to children that are said to be coming from Saint Nicholas, somewhat similar to Santa Claus.
The images were obtained by Newsflash from the National Police of Ukraine on 21st December, along with a statement: “A typical working day for the evacuation team begins with phone calls coming to their hotline from local residents.
“However, this time the law enforcement officer’s official morning began with greeting the children.
“The ‘White Angels’ visited the families who still did not dare to evacuate, in order to bring joy to the little ones.”
The footage shows the kind-hearted policemen visiting a little girl named Hanna, whose family has been living in the basement of one of the city’s high-rise buildings for almost seven months.
Hanna spent all those past months hidden away from sunlight, did not go outside to play with her peers, and only hung out with her cat and the ‘White Angels’ who visited her.
On this occasion, the ‘Angels’ stopped by once again and this time brought her sweets, toys, a handbag and New Year’s socks.
Hanna was seemingly very happy receiving the presents, especially after she spent her morning feeling very upset that she did not find the gift she was expecting on the holiday, her mother said.
“We told her that St Nicholas could not reach her and asked us to give her gifts. A child should believe in miracles, especially now,” said one of the policemen with tears in his eyes.
Another boy can be also seen being gifted with sweets.
The crew then help evacuate an 80-year-old grandmother and her family to Dnipro, where her grandson is waiting for them.
In the end, the White Angels deliver life-saving medicine to an elderly man.
The pensioner reportedly lives alone but refuses to leave.
He is unable to reach a pharmacy or a medical facility, so the ‘White Angels’ came to help.
The ‘White Angels’ is a group of police volunteers who evacuate civilians from villages in war-torn areas in Ukraine and Russian-occupied regions.
The name ‘White Angel’ comes from the white ambulance car of police officer Rustam Lukomskyi, who has been bringing medicine, food and water and other basic necessities to the population since the first day of war.
Russia invaded Ukraine on 24th February in what the Kremlin is still calling a “special military operation”. Today marks the 302nd day of the invasion.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that between 24th February and 22nd December, Russia had lost about 100,400 personnel, 3,003 tanks, 5,981 armoured combat vehicles, 1,978 artillery units, 413 multiple launch rocket systems, 212 air defence systems, 283 warplanes, 267 helicopters, 1,693 drones, 653 cruise missiles, 16 warships, 4,615 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, and 178 units of special equipment.
Russia has claimed that its casualties have been much lower but provides infrequent updates on its latest figures.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky travelled to Washington, DC to meet with US leaders on 21st December with a plea for military aid.
Zelenskyy called the tens of billions of dollars in US military and economic assistance to Ukraine an investment in democracy and “not charity”.
And the US Congress is set to announce an additional aid package for Ukraine that would include nearly USD 45 billion (GBP 37 billion).
The Kremlin warned that increasing the supply of US weapons to Ukraine would aggravate the war.
Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said that Russia needs to prepare an “appropriate” response to NATO’s military expansion near Russian borders, including Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO membership aspirations, and proposed to expand the military.
And Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted that Russian forces had faced challenges with mobilization, lack of drones and new equipment.
The head of the local grid operator in Kyiv, Serhiy Kovalenko, said power outages in Ukraine’s capital remain the most difficult.
He added that the situation may improve if the remaining 40 per cent of transformers do not get hit in new attacks.
Moreover, heavy fighting has been going on in Donetsk, Eastern Ukraine, as Russian forces attempt to make further advances in the region.
General Staff spokesperson Oleksandr Shtupun said Ukrainian forces repelled attacks around more than 25 populated areas in the Kharkiv, Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
The bodies of seven civilians, including a teenage girl, were found in a mass grave in the village of Pravdyne in southern Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian defence minister.
In other developments, the former Russian deputy prime minister and former director of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, was wounded in the Ukrainian bombing of a hotel in the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk.
