A Ukrainian mother attempting to escape war-hit Ukraine with her 4-month-old son was allegedly denied to catch a flight because her infant lacked a passport and a travel visa. 

Olya Korol fled her homeland with her mother, Tanya, and son, Severyn Korotniuk. Leaving her husband behind in Ukraine’s Kyiv, the woman arrived in Frankfurt after a 20-hour bus ride from Katowice, Poland.

“When I look out at Germany, I feel guilt that we can breathe,” Korol said. 

“My husband and my father are not able to go out because it’s safer to stay in the shelters,” she added. 

While Korol initially planned to hop on a flight to San Francisco on March 7, the mother, along with her son, was denied to board the airplane by the cabin crew for not presenting her son’s passport, according to KRON 4.

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“I went to the Ukrainian consulate in Frankfurt. They put a photo of my baby in my passport. They put stamps showing it’s official and legal. They said it should be enough,” she said. 

“He’s an infant, he’s small, he doesn’t have anything. Then we boarded the plane and the [airlines] did not board us because the baby doesn’t have a passport,” Korol told KRON 4.

Korol hopes to visit her extended family in San Jose. Witnessing her present situation, Korol’s cousin, Lena Tutko, set up a page on GoFundMe in order to raise funds for Korol’s stay and expenses in Frankfurt. 

As of Monday, the fundraiser has garnered around $1,600 of its $15,000 goal.

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“While Tanya and Olya have a passport and a visitor visa, 4-month old Severyn does not,” Tutko wrote on the platform. 

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“The problem is Ukrainian passports are only issued in Kyiv, Ukraine, and the passport office is not operating. So now they are stuck in a foreign country, with no resolution in sight,” Tutko added. 

Despite Ukraine’s current crisis, Korol hopes to return and continue the life she left behind in her homeland. 

“I had a good life in Kyiv,” she told KRON 4.