"On Saturday, 10.01.2026, at 11:20 a.m., the police received a report about children who had fallen through the ice. As the police determined, the nine-year-old girls were running on the frozen surface of a canal. At one point, the ice beneath them began to crack and the children fell into the water. \[...\]

Fortunately, a passerby was nearby, who noticed the whole incident and immediately rushed to help, assisting the girls in getting to shore. The children were unharmed and were taken to their place of residence, under the care of their father.  \[...\]

“*I was on that bridge,*” says Oleksandr Bolotov, "*when \[...\] I saw the girls on the ice about 30-40 meters away. First, the ice broke under one of them, then under the other.* \[...\]

"On the other side of the canal, he noticed an elderly man. They were the only adults in the area.  *"I started shouting for him to help. He immediately started running towards us. He was an elderly man, in his seventies \[...\] Before he got here, I grabbed a branch and stretched it out towards the girls so they could grab hold of it. They were both up to their necks in water." \[...\] The elderly man lent his scarf, which was used as a lifeline. Both girls were successfully pulled out."*

*“It was a reflex, I didn't think twice, there was no time for that, I just rushed to help them,” he says. “When I saw those children in the water, it was a shock. There was no one else around.”*

Mr. Oleksandr Bolotow has been living in Bydgoszcz since the beginning of the war. He comes from Sloviansk and was a police officer with the rank of major. In Poland, he works as a truck driver. He was invited to the town hall for a meeting with the mayor.

This is a very fresh topic, currently two sources are available (in polish)

[https://expressbydgoski.pl/to-oleksandr-z-ukrainy-zauwazyl-tonace-dziewczynki-to-byly-sekundy-widzialem-je-szok-byly-juz-po-szyje-w-wodzie/ar/c1p2-28593565](https://expressbydgoski.pl/to-oleksandr-z-ukrainy-zauwazyl-tonace-dziewczynki-to-byly-sekundy-widzialem-je-szok-byly-juz-po-szyje-w-wodzie/ar/c1p2-28593565)

[https://bydgoszcz.tvp.pl/90993321/uratowal-dzieci-z-kanalu-bydgoskiego-zalamal-sie-pod-nimi-lod-tvp3-bydgoszcz](https://bydgoszcz.tvp.pl/90993321/uratowal-dzieci-z-kanalu-bydgoskiego-zalamal-sie-pod-nimi-lod-tvp3-bydgoszcz)

A man from Ukraine helped rescue two nine-year-old girls from the water after the ice broke beneath them in Poland.