The Tragic Search for 4-Year-Old Boy Who Capsized in Ukraine River While Fleeing War

Facebook Alexander Yakhno

A 4-year-old boy missing for weeks in Ukraine had actually drowned after a boat full of women and children was fired on by Russian soldiers and capsized, officials involved in the case learned last week.

Alexander "Sasha" Yakhno was staying with his grandmother at a small village in Ukraine after the Russian invasion began in late February. His family, who lives in the capital of Kyiv, thought he would be safer there.

But, as PEOPLE learned from speaking to those who searched for the boy, the situation in his village quickly grew perilous — prompting him and his grandmother to attempt to flee via boat. They set out on March 10.

Stephan Smets, a spokesperson for the charity Child Focus, says his agency became involved after Sasha's mother reached out to a Kyiv-based center for missing children.

"We were in close contact with Magnolia, the local center of missing children in Kiev," Smets tells PEOPLE, who adds that Magnolia, a non-governmental organization, was in contact was Sasha's mom, Anna Yakhno.

The agency eventually learned that the boy had died later on March 10 and determined what led to the tragedy.

"We know that the child was sent to stay with the grandmother in her village because they thought it would be safer there. The father was fighting, and the mother wanted to stay in Kyiv. But then the roads [to the village] were blocked and the bridges bombed, so they had to go by water with 15 other people," Smets explains.

As Smets describes, the group took two small boats in an effort to cross the Dnieper, which flows through Ukraine to the Black Sea.

"One of the boats sank," Smets says. "All we knew was that five people survived and two people drowned, including the grandmother."

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Marina Lypovetska, head of projects at Magnolia — the NGO that led the search for Sasha — says that the boat's survivors told her he was the only one wearing a life jacket, initially giving hope that he had somehow survived.

As the group worked to find him, they got the word out, asking others to be on the lookout for the boy even beyond Ukraine because his group had been aboard boats trying to flee.

Sasha's mother, Anna, launched her own appeal on Facebook, writing of the group who boarded the boats: "They were in a small village where there were only two shops, and two days after the invasion began, all the food was gone. The longer they stayed there, the worse the situation became with supplies and electricity. There had been no electricity for three days when they decided to escape by boat. We tried several times to get to them and take them back by car, but every time we were prevented because of the shelling."

After they attempted to cross the Kyiv reservoir along the Dnieper, Anna, wrote, "We lost contact with them."

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She continued in that Facebook post: "Sasha's grandmother was found dead on March 11, we could not take her body away and asked the locals to bury her. We really hoped that Sasha was with others on the boat and hiding in a village, possibly cut off from the rest of Ukraine due to the war. I am grateful to everyone for the response and support."

By April 5, the groups searching for Sasha learned that his body had been found down-river. His mother was notified, announcing the news to those following her on Facebook and Instagram.

"Toady we found Sashenka's body," she wrote later that day. "I am thankful to everyone who believed, who helped in the search, I am thankful to each of you for your prayers and your faith, I am thankful for your support."

She continued: "Sashenka, our little angel — already in heaven! Today his soul found peace."

LOUISA GOULIAMAKI/AFP via Getty Images Ukrainian refugees

Smets did not have more information about who found the boy's body. Lypovetska says that Magnolia learned of Sasha's death late on April 5.

The survivors of his river journey last month were all from the second boat and the group presumes no one on the first boat survived, she says.

Lypovetska tells PEOPLE there have been approximately 2,000 cases of missing children reported to the organization's database since the start of the war.

"Most of them are missing with their families but some went missing alone and in ten cases we found they had managed to cross the border," Lypovetska says. "Apart from us, there are not many organizations that search for missing children."

Compounding the difficulty of finding a missing child in a war zone is the fact that Magnolia's own offices have not been spared from the fighting.

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"Our office was situated right next to the central Kyiv railway station and the station came under repeated rocket attacks so we had to leave," Lypovetska says. "Our telephone lines were brought down. We are now hiding in various villages in Ukraine, continuing our work via WhatsApp and Facebook."

The majority of those Magnolia finds, Lypovetska says, are alive. Though she worries that may change as the war continues. (The United Nations says that thousands of civilians have been reported dead or wounded.)

"We know that in Bucha, Irpin, Gostomel and Mariupol, there are mass graves and they contain unidentified children," Lypovetska says. "It is only with time that we will learn the truth — when the Russians leave our country."

The Russian attack on Ukraine is an evolving story, with information changing quickly. Follow PEOPLE's complete coverage of the war here, including stories from citizens on the ground and ways to help.