WATCH: Ukrainian Woman Walks to Freedom Across Ruins of Antonivsky Bridge

A Ukrainian woman was seen walking across the destroyed Antonivsky Bridge leaving the occupied town of Oleshky, in the Kherson region by a Ukrainian drone operator, to whom she showed her passport to prove her nationality.

The drone escorted her safely to the position of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the left bank, after which the military took her on a boat to the territory controlled by Ukraine, according to the Most publication.

A junior sergeant from the Kherson Defense Forces, identified only by his call sign “Max,” said that the woman had walked all the way, and no one came to detain her, as the structure was considered to be dangerous.

“When she heard that she was being escorted by a drone, she took out her passport as a citizen of Ukraine and showed the camera that she was Ukrainian and wanted to go home,” the soldier said.

Most writes that the 50-year-old woman, left for Russia at the beginning of the war but after having moved several times she finally decided to return to her homeland.

From the Russian city of Belgorod, the woman traveled to Dzhankoy, in the north of Crimea, then moved on to Skadovsk and Radensk, in the Kherson region, which is currently under Russian occupation.

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The Ukrainian officer, who uses the callsign "Goth", was speaking to AFP in the eastern Donetsk region, where Russia made in November its largest gains in a month since March 2022.

From Radensk, she was driven to Oleshky by the Russian military. After spending the night in Oleshky, she walked to the Antonivsky Bridge, which was blown up by Russian troops in November 2022 while fleeing Kherson, bringing down two of the bridge’s spans. The bridge connects Ukraine-controlled Kherson with the Russian-controlled left bank.

The commander of the operation said that the woman did not know that the Antonivsky Bridge was in a dangerous condition and so was therefore confident in walking it.

The operation to evacuate the woman lasted about six hours and was dangerous both for her and for the soldiers of the Defense Forces, because the enemy could strike at any time.

“This is a unique case. It is unique because this person, despite all the risks and fear, went through such a journey to return home,” a military spokesperson told Most.