A Ukrainian mom was so scared she would lose her life while trying to save her toddler from the war that she wrote a list of family contacts on the young girl’s back to help identify her other family members.
Sasha Makoviy, an artist based in Kyiv shared the photo of her diaper-wearing daughter Vira’s back covered in her personal info, including her name, date of birth and a series of contact details.
She said her “hands were trembling,” as she wrote the info on the 2-year-old “in case something happened to us, and someone would pick her up as a survivor.”
She said a “crazy thought flashed through my mind: Why didn’t I tattoo her with this information?”
Makoviy said it “hurts” to scroll through the rest of her Instagram feed, with happy images of her, her daughter and the young girl’s father, a painful reminder of “such a wonderful life that we had” before Russia’s invasion.
Sasha Makoviy wrote the info on the 2-year-old’s back “in case something happened to us, and someone would pick her up as a survivor.”
The heartbreaking image has gone viral in Ukraine after it was shared by Kyiv Independent journalist Anastasiia Lapatina, who wrote, “Ukrainian mothers are writing their family contacts on the bodies of their children in case they get killed and the child survives.
“And Europe is still discussing gas,” she said dismissively.
Makoviy updated her followers Tuesday, April 5, saying she and her daughter were now “safe.”
“We managed to cross the border, and now we’re in the South of France,” she said alongside a new photo of a smiling Vira tending to some flowers.
“We’ve been staying with volunteers who invited us here and offered accommodation,” she wrote, saying her daughter’s pretty pink dress in the image was a gift from “a caring French family.”
“I’m moved to tears,” she said of the response to her post and offers of support.
