Boy from Donetsk Oblast "adopted" in Russia was brought back to Ukraine

A 16-year-old boy from Donetsk Oblast, illegally deported to the Russian Federation, was brought back to Ukraine. There he lived with a "foster family".

Source: Dmytro Lubinets, Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, on Facebook

Details: As the ombudsman states, Serhii, the boy's name, was brought back to the motherland for the first time in eight months. It happened on 19 December, on Saint Nicholas Day.

Shortly before the full-scale invasion, the boy lost his parents, with whom he lived near Mariupol. Currently, he has only an older sister left.

As soon as the invaders occupied Serhii’s native city, he and many other children were taken to Donetsk, and from there to the Russian Federation. The decisive word was given to Maria Lvova-Belova, Children's Rights Commissioner for the President of the Russian Federation, who, after a "sweet conversation" with the children on the cameras of the propaganda mass media, decided that Serhii and other deported Ukrainian children should be adopted into Russian families.

The teenager was sent to live with a family where the couple already had four children: three of their own and one adopted. According to the ombudsman, Serhii did not even talk to his new "parents".

"I was just studying at the college and talking with the friends I met there," said Serhii.

In the educational institution there, the boy studied auto mechanics. As Lubinets recounts the boy's words, he was not treated cruelly in the Russian family, but the idea that he should come back to Ukraine did not leave him all this time. The boy found salvation on the Internet.

"I want to come back from the Russian Federation to Ukraine", Serhii sent this message in one of the Telegram chatbots. He received a reply that he would receive help with this.

And so it happened.

"Yesterday, he was met at the border with Ukraine, and he is happy that he is finally home. When asked what he felt when he crossed the border with Ukraine, Serhii answered with the most sincere smile that he was very happy," Lubinets said.

At the railway station, Dmytro Lubinets and Murat Shahin, the UNICEF Representative in Ukraine, were waiting for the boy. The latter presented Serhii with a laptop necessary for studying. 

According to the Ombudsman, the boy will also receive psychological and medical care. After the loss of his parents, his sister will become Serhii's official guardian.

"I am impressed by the determination of the young Ukrainian and his irresistible desire to come back home. This is an example of what Ukrainians are all about: our resilience and perseverance. His story is about the struggle to be free, to live freely, and to be surrounded by free people! Ukraine continues to fight for such purposeful children who will grow up to be its worthy citizens!" Dmytro Lubinets stressed. 

Earlier, Daria Herasymchuk, the Ukrainian Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights and Child Rehabilitation, reported that Russian invaders illegally deported more than 13,000 children out of Ukraine.

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