NEW: American grandfather masterminds harrowing escape for stranded daughter, grandson through Ukraine “wilderness” into Slovakia
for more than a week is finally safe after his family hatched a plan to cut through the bureaucratic red tape that had trapped him and his mother in a war zone.
So, he told the Daily Beast on Monday, he and Aislinn’s boyfriend—Seraphim’s father—plotted an alternate escape route for the family through “the wilderness and the foothills of the Carpathian Alps” using satellite maps. Worried as Russia continued to amass troops on the Ukrainian border, Hubbard first alerted U.S. officials of a potential problem in December.
As Aislinn and her boyfriend scrambled to keep their baby safe, Hubbard turned around and flew back to meet them. Faced with a “freaking nightmare” unfolding around them, the family packed up and made their way to the Slovakian border, having been told by U.S. embassy officials that they would have no problem crossing.
For the last hour or two, the family walked “in the pitch-black through the forest,” he said. Then they reached the Slovakian village.