Ukrainian defender, whose 12-year-old brother and grandmother were killed in Russian attack on Kryvyi Rih, liberated from Russian captivity

Mykyta Shaulskyi, a defender of Mariupol, has been brought back to Ukraine from Russian captivity. The reunion was something his 12-year-old brother Maksym had eagerly awaited. Tragically, Maksym and their grandmother were killed in a Russian attack on Kryvyi Rih in September 2024.

Source: UNITED24, a fundraising platform run by the Ukrainian government

Details: The father of the released defender, Andrii Shaulskyi, said he and his wife were on their way to meet their son, as reported by Suspilne.Dnipro, a Dnipro-related branch of Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne.

"He [Mykyta] called and said he was in Ukraine. We were crying, of course, overwhelmed with emotions. He said: 'Dad, don't cry'. But they were tears of joy. It was a New Year gift. For three years, we had a feeling that it was coming," Andrii Shaulskyi shared his emotions.

Andrii mentioned that Mykyta had been in Russian captivity since 19 April 2022. He also revealed that Mykyta was aware of his brother and grandmother's deaths, but he learned about it not from his family but from information he found on the Internet.

"We wanted to tell him in person. He asked for Maksym and his grandmother's phone numbers, and we told him there was no connection due to power outages, but he read everything on the Internet," Andrii said.

Russian forces launched a missile strike on the city of Kryvyi Rih in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast on 21 September 2024, claiming the life of 12-year-old Maksym Shaulskyi and his grandmother Valentyna.

Family friends said the boy dreamed of seeing his older brother Mykyta be released from Russian captivity and being able to hug him once again.

"Maksym Shaulskyi was the bright sunshine of our large family and community, a blue-eyed, sweet child, a boy who longed to hug his older brother, who had been in enemy captivity for three years," said Oksana Latanska, a family friend.

Maksym, 12, often took part in Free Azov campaigns to support Ukrainian prisoners of war. The boy also believed in Ukraine's victory and was deeply concerned about the fate of every defender held by Russia, said Liubov Riabko, the founder of the charity.

"It's excruciating and unfair... Maksym Shaulskyi was just a 12-year-old boy who dreamed of hugging his older brother Mykyta, waiting for him to be released from captivity and being together again as a family.

His heart beat in rhythm with hope and faith that the day would come when he would see his brother. Maksym was a little fighter who believed in victory," Latanska said.

Mykyta Shaulskyi still has his parents, both of whom are defending Ukraine in the ranks of the Armed Forces, and his brother Danylo. Despite the tragic loss of his younger brother and grandmother, Mykyta went out to support Ukrainian defenders held by Russia just a few days after their funeral, local media outlet Na chasi. Kryvyi Rih reported.

Background:

• On 30 December 2024, a POW swap took place, during which Ukraine liberated 189 defenders. Among them was Roman Borshch, a former journalist and defender of Mariupol.
• "There are emotions now, I don't fully understand what is happening. We were extremely lucky, considering the places of our detention," said the released soldier immediately after arriving in Ukraine.

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