AN anguished mum has told how her terrified tot gripped her hand as children fled from a cancer ward.
Two-year-old Nikita Vorobiov and ten other kids had been cowering in a dank hospital cellar for nine days.
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On Saturday — with food and medicine running desperately low — eight of the children and their mums got out from surrounded Chernihiv after several failed attempts.
Last night Nikita’s mum Yana, 36, told The Sun: “We left on a bus in a convoy of cars. We could hear explosions all around. It was terrifying.
“Nikita grabbed my hands and held them very hard. He was so afraid.”
We told yesterday how Nikita, who has acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, was trapped in Chernihiv Regional Children’s Hospital.
An air strike on Friday destroyed an apartment block just 500 yards from their oncology ward. At least 47 civilians perished on Thursday and Friday amid shelling of homes, a nursery and a market.
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Serhiy Zosimenko, of children’s charity EVUM, told The Sun they made several escape bids.
He said: “The fifth time we got in the bus and run away but we were stopped at a bridge because there was a battle with our forces and Russians. When we heard we had to go back the kids were exhausted and crying.
“We made the kids hot drinks. All night the Russians used artillery and grads. No one slept. In the morning we tried again and finally crossed the bridge.”
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It took five hours to reach Kyiv, before eventually heading to a clinic in Turin, Italy.
Serhiy added: “These kids are tired but they are lucky. Others in the Chernihiv area who are in remission are cut off. That’s because bridges have been blown up or Russian forces control the territory.”
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