A dog was put on the package: composer Poklad's wife confesses how she outsmarted the occupiers and smuggled her most valuable item through checkpoints

The wife of Ukrainian composer Ihor Poklad miraculously managed to smuggle out of the occupation, where they were captured at the beginning of the Russian invasion, a very valuable award for her husband - the Hero of Ukraine star. The Poklad family was lucky enough to pass all Russian checkpoints on the way from Vorzel to Kyiv without any obstacles - the composer's order was not found, thanks to a trick.

Svitlana Poklad talked about this in an interview with OBOZ.UA. She and her husband were taken out of the occupation by a volunteer who had a Kazakh passport, which was very helpful during checks at Russian checkpoints.

Ihor Poklad, one of the most famous Ukrainian composers, lives with his family in Vorzel, Kyiv region. There, the musician's family met the Russian invasion, and on the third day of the Great War, the town fell under occupation. In mid-March, the Poklads managed to escape from captured Vorzel. Svitlana told a volunteer who volunteered to come to pick them up that she could leave all her valuable possessions in the house, but she preferred to take her husband's award, the Hero of Ukraine star, with her. Ihor Poklad was awarded the honorary title before the Great War, in December 2021.

"Volunteer Kostiantyn Gadauskas is a citizen of Kazakhstan, but has Lithuanian and Ukrainian roots. He has a Kazakh passport, which helped a lot at the time - they took him for one of their own, as a citizen of a friendly state," says Svitlana Poklad about the volunteer who saved them. "We didn't know Konstantin, but he was subscribed to Dmitry Gordon. I read his post on social media that a famous Ukrainian composer was stuck in the basement of his house in Vorzel. Dima asked people to help with the evacuation. Kostia wrote: I will go."

"I remember that day very well: March 11, 2022. I looked out the window, saw a man in a red jacket walking past the neighboring house," continues Svitlana Poklad. "I opened the gate, and he said: "I'm coming to pick you up, Dima Gordon asked me to pick you up." We got into his car and drove through all those terrible checkpoints. When we passed the first, the toughest one, the Russians told our driver: "Is this the old man you were following? Stupid suicidal man! Let him die in the basement." Then we passed many more checkpoints. And finally Kostia brought us to a Kyiv apartment."

"You know, we managed to take the Golden Star Order, which is awarded with the title of Hero of Ukraine, out of the occupation," Svitlana admits. "When I was hastily packing, Kosti said: "I can leave everything here, but not the order." He said: "Do you have a blanket?" So we wrapped it in it, and then in some kind of ball. And we put our Labrador on top, hoping that they would not take the dog out of the car. And, thank God, they did. If they had seen that it was a Hero of Ukraine, you can imagine what happened at the first checkpoint."