9-year-old Aislinn Hubbard and her 9-month-old son were stuck in Ukraine because the baby has no birth certificate or no passport due her giving birth at home

A Massachusetts man is "proud" of his daughter after she and his grandson escaped from Ukraine amid Russia's invasion into the country.

William Hubbard told WBZ-TV that his 19-year-old daughter Aislinn, her boyfriend and their 9-month-old son Seraphin were stopped by border patrol officers in Ukraine because the baby had no birth certificate or no passport. Aislinn had given birth at home due to COVID concerns and was waiting for the paperwork required by Ukrainian law to be processed when the war began.

"We weren't going to wait any longer for some mysterious solution to come from some government authority," he told the outlet. "If it hadn't happened in two weeks, the chances that it was going to happen in the next week or two weeks or three weeks were really slim."

After contacting the state department, US lawmakers, and Ukrainian advocates for help, Hubbard realized they would need to take matters into their own hands to get out of the country.

"We hatched a plan and we said OK, we need to find a location where we can get across the border," he told WBZ-TV.

The family bypassed border patrol by hiking through the woods into Slovakia on Saturday while William tracked them using his phone. He told that outlet his daughter carried her son on her back for seven miles.

"We got over the border," Aislinn texted her father from a Slovakian village late on Saturday, according to The Daily Beast. "And the police came to pick us up and everybody's been so good to us."

Aislinn and Seraphin were reunited with Hubbard at a hotel in Kosice, Slovakia after being released by Slovakian authorities, the outlet reported.

"Let me tell you, I was so proud of my daughter. I couldn't believe it," Hubbard told WBZ-TV.

The family obtained temporary travel documents from Slovakian police which allowed them to travel throughout the European Union. They plan to have their son take a DNA test to receive full documentation.

Russia's attack on Ukraine continues after their forces launched a large-scale invasion on Feb. 24 — the first major land conflict in Europe in decades.

Details of the fighting change by the day, but hundreds of civilians have already been reported dead or wounded, including children. Millions of Ukrainians have also fled, the United Nations says.

"You don't know where to go, where to run, who you have to call. This is just panic," Liliya Marynchak, a 45-year-old teacher in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine, told PEOPLE of the moment her city was bombed — one of numerous accounts of bombardment by the Russians.

The invasion, ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin, has drawn condemnation around the world and increasingly severe economic sanctions against Russia.

With NATO forces massing in the region around Ukraine, various countries have also pledged aid or military support to the resistance. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for peace talks — so far unsuccessful — while urging his country to fight back.

Putin insists Ukraine has historic ties to Russia and he is acting in the best security interests of his country. Zelenskyy vowed not to bend.

"Nobody is going to break us, we're strong, we're Ukrainians," he told the European Union in a speech in the early days of the fighting, adding, "Life will win over death. And light will win over darkness."

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.