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Fitchburg native, baby escape Ukraine through the mountains into Slovakia
Aislinn Hubbard, 19, and her nine-month-old son took a difficult route to avoid detection.
After being stuck in Ukraine, and at one point having her baby torn from arms, a Fitchburg native with her infant son has escaped the war-torn country into Slovakia.
Aislinn Hubbard, 19, and her son, Seraphim, who is nine months old, hiked through the Carpathian Mountains after she and her dad, William Hubbard, mapped out the best, and most difficult route, to Slovakia to escape. With her son strapped to her back, Aislinn Hubbard reached the Slovakian border and then hiked another hour-and-a-half to two hours before reaching a small bar in Slovakia where the locals helped her get in touch with authorities.
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“We had been planning this trip for about five days,” William Hubbard said on a recent segment with CNN. “She had two dry runs two days before without the baby.”
Finally, she decided to go for it, and on a day the weather was good, Aislinn and Seraphim fled. Seraphim rode on his mom’s back; Aislinn had a small backpack strapped to her front.
This isn’t the first time the mother and son attempted to flee the country. Earlier this month, Seraphim was taken from his mother since he had no birth certificate or passport — he was born at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Seraphim was later returned to the terrified family. The family had anticipated it may be difficult to bring the baby back to the States due to the lack of documentation.
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After reaching Slovakia, Aislinn told her dad she was “sore and tired,” but that she’s happy to be there.
The Hubbards, plus Aislinn’s boyfriend, who is with her and the baby, created the plan after looking at a map and satellite images. They did dry runs to see where the soldiers were.
“We knew that the best way to hike through the mountains was to go through the most difficult terrain because most people who are going to try to cut through the mountains are going to take the easiest pathway and that’s where they get caught,” William Hubbard said. “And we didn’t want to have any issues related to that.”
Once in Slovakia, the young family received documentation within hours from the Slovakian government.
“Everybody’s good, safe, and they’re all documented,” he said. “That’s the important thing.”
A GoFundMe was set up to help the family during this time. As of Monday afternoon, it had raised $14,575 with a $50,000 stated goal.
The young family now plans to travel to Portugal since their documents allow them to travel for a year in the European Union. When they arrive, they will work to get documents for Seraphim, according to WHDH.
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