Kozacha Lopan, near the Russian border, was captured by Moscow’s invading forces in the first days of the conflict. But when last week Vyacheslav Zadorenko, mayor of the nearby Derhachi district, entered his mother’s village with Ukrainian liberation forces, they were soon reunited. Exciting footage taken from the vehicle Mr Zadorenko was traveling in showed the local worker jump out of the car and into his mother’s arms. “The day I was waiting for more than any other in my life – a meeting with my beloved mother,” he said “Mom, I missed you so much,” he added, as they shared a tight hug. “I was waiting for you to come,” his mother replied. As more villagers arrived to greet their hero soldiers, Mr Zadorenko’s mother reached out to hug the heavily armed soldiers to show her appreciation. Similar scenes were witnessed right in the Kharkiv region, where around 300 settlements were liberated from Russian occupation in the latest Ukrainian counter-offensive.
