Two Russian sisters have been reunited 78 years after being separated during the second world war, thanks to a television show and a police search.

In footage of their meeting late last month provided by the interior ministry, Yulia and Rozalina Kharitonova, now 92 and 94, hugged and kissed as their family members watched in tears.

“I was searching for her, I was always searching for her,” said Rozalina, holding her sister’s hand.

As teenagers, the sisters lived with their parents in Stalingrad, the city now known as Volgograd that was the site of one of the bloodiest battles the war. They were separated in 1942 during the civilian evacuation to escape Nazi encirclement.

Yulia, who was born in 1928, was evacuated with her mother to the city of Penza, about 310 miles (500km) to the north. And Rozalina was evacuated with her factory colleagues to the industrial city of Chelyabinsk, about 870 miles to the north-east in the Urals.

The police spokeswoman Irina Volk said in a statement: “After being separated in their youth, these women never lost hope of seeing each other again over 78 long years.”

She said the sisters met again in Chelyabinsk after Yulia’s daughter asked police for help to track down her aunt. Rozalina had already tried to find her sister, without success, through a television show that looks for missing family members.

Russian sisters reunited. Rosalina (left) and Yulia (right) when they were young women. Photograph: HTB Russia

Russian police found out that Rozalina had appeared on the show and made the connection, contacting both women and organising a reunion.

Russia is preparing to hold large-scale celebrations on 9 May to mark 75 years since the allied victory over the Nazis. The USSR suffered particularly heavy losses of around 27 million people, according to official figures.

In the battle of Stalingrad more than 1 million troops were killed on each side during fighting that lasted more than six months. The Nazi surrender in February 1943 proved a turning point in the war, leading to the eventual defeat of Adolf Hitler’s forces.