Ecuador receives Diego Moncayo, who escaped the war zone in Ukraine

Quito, 21 Mar Diego Moncayo, a young Ecuadorian student living in Kiev, who spent almost three weeks trapped near the battlefront on the Ukrainian border with Russia, arrived in his country on Monday and was welcomed as a hero after his dramatic odyssey. On board a commercial flight and accompanied by officials from the Ecuadorian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Moncayo arrived at the “Mariscal Sucre” airport in Quito with the obvious trace of his journey. At a press conference at the same air terminal, Luis Vayas, deputy minister of Human Mobility of the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry who accompanied Moncayo on his return, highlighted the feat of the young philology student who circumvented the risks of war. Vayas did not hesitate to describe as “heroes” all the young people who managed to escape from Ukraine, but he recalled that there are still Ecuadorians (it was estimated 96 days ago) in areas considered low-risk. The diplomat said that many want to return, as nearly 700 have already done on three humanitarian flights organized by the Government of Ecuador, as well as on another one in Mexico and on commercial lines. DIEGO: “I CAME BACK ALIVE” “I am here alive,” commented the 20-year-old, who remained hidden in the town of Shostka, in the region of Sumy, where there have been fierce clashes following the Russian military operation on Ukrainian territory that began on 23 February. Just that day the rush began for Moncayo and about 850 other Ecuadorians residing in Ukraine, most of them students already outside the country of conflict. Moncayo's case was particular, as on the day of the first attack he began to flee Kiev along with three Ukrainians (two girls and another young man), with whom he boarded a train that, without knowing it, went in the opposite direction and ended up in Sumy, where the fighting was raging. He and his friends managed to leave Sumy and reach neighboring Shostka, where one of the Ukrainians resided and provided them with shelter. Moncayo tried to flee the area three times, but failed and was about to be swindled by unknown people asking him for money to take him to a safe area, although Shostka was besieged by Russian tanks. A GETAWAY JUST IN TIME When there seemed to be no hope of leaving, the Shostka authorities, the International Red Cross and the Ecuadorian authorities made an effort to extract Moncayo from the so-called “hot zone”. And it was just in time, according to Moncayo, because after leaving his temporary shelter he knew that “critical shelling began” in the region, that Shostka was “without water and without electricity” and that Russian tanks were closer. Moncayo was able to leave with his Ukrainian friend, with whom he planned to arrive in Ecuador, but he could not do so, as only the Ecuadorian managed to cross the border into Poland, where the diplomatic authorities of his country were waiting to speed up his return. The journey to Lviv was not so easy and in the city of Poltava he had problems with the Ukrainian soldiers, who rebuked and challenged him with their weapons by hinting without evidence that he was supposedly on the side of the Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. “GOD PAY THEM” Diego's mother, Jeaneth Mendoza, recalled that her son's case was the most critical of the Ecuadorian colony in Ukraine, the largest group among Latin Americans in that Eastern European country. She thanked the Municipality of Shostka, the Red Cross staff who collaborated in the operation, the Ecuadorian diplomatic authorities and the press that resonated her son's case. “God pay them”, since the joint effort was able to bring about the return of “our son alive”, said the woman who lived the drama from afar, although glued to the mobile phone, with which she was able to have permanent contact with her son. A CHICKEN SOUP, TO RETURN TO EARTH “He is tired, he has not slept well, he is with red eyes” and now he just wants to sleep peacefully, said his mother, who has prepared a light dinner to receive him at home. “He has asked me for something very light, so that it does not hurt him because of the change, a chicken soup and a croaker with salad,” said the mother that there is no room for the joy of having her Diego at home, after having suffered a “nightmare”. For now, Moncayo wants to continue his studies in Ecuador and perhaps in the next few years to try a specialization again in Europe, perhaps in Germany, although there will be time to think about it, his mother said. And it is that “it's not just Ukraine, the whole of Europe is being shaken by this war,” said Jeaneth. CHIEF fa/fgg/rrt