A Ukrainian mum has confirmed that the body of her missing four-year-old son has been found and said her “little angel is already in heaven”.
Anna Yakhno, 25, had been desperately trying to track down little Sasha Zdanovych who had been with his grandma as they tried to escape advancing Russian troops and leave Ukraine.
He went missing around March 10 and Anna released photos of Sasha to try and locate him.
Border guards were told to look out for any boy that may look like him in case he was with other refugees leaving the country.
Many people from around the world did get in touch with Anna but sadly none of them turned out to be Sasha.
Now she has shared the tragic news on Facebook that Sasha’s body had been found and she thanked everyone for their help in trying to find him.
She wrote: "Today we found Sasha's body.
"I thank everyone who believed, who helped in the search, I thank everyone for your prayers and faith, I thank you for your support. Thanks to you, my son met me.
"Sasha, our little angel is already in heaven! Today his soul found peace.."
Sasha had been with his grandma when they tried to escape advancing Russian troops and fearing all exits via road were blocked, they tried to leave by crossing the River Dnieper.
Their group had two boats and little Sasha was the only one known to be wearing a life jacket.
One of the boats capsized and the bodies of Sasha's gran and another woman were later found dead.
Anna had hoped that Sasha could have been with others who had been on the boat and was hiding in a village maybe cut off from the rest of Ukraine due to the war.
She said in an earlier appeal: “We believe in a miracle and wait for any useful information.
“None of this would have happened if it wasn’t for the war. It was the Russian troops who caused it. There were eight people in the boat.
“My mother-in-law was found, another woman who was with them was discovered the next day. They were both dead. Six people, including Sasha, are being searched for.
“But in those places hostilities are underway. There is hope that my boy managed to get to a nearby village, but it is not yet possible to check that.
“There are the villages of Tolokun and Sukholuchye nearby, but people there have no electricity and communications for about a week.”
Sasha had been staying with his paternal grandmother when the region came under acute threat from advancing Russians.
“My little son - our only child - was staying with his beloved grandmother Zoya, 60, when the war began,” she said.
“They were in a small village with only two shops and two days after the start of the invasion all the food was gone.
“The longer they stayed there, the worse it got with supplies and electricity. The three last days before they decided to escape by boats there was no electricity for three days.
“We were trying to get to them several times, or to get them out by road, but each time we had to turn cars back because of shelling.”
She said: “Trying to escape from occupation, they ventured across Kyiv reservoir [on the Dnieper, also known as the Kyiv Sea] taking two dogs.
“Connection with them was lost. Sasha’s granny was found dead on [March] 11, we could not collect her body, and asked locals to bury her. I am grateful for everyone's response and support.
“Hope and faith are always with us.”
