Maxim and Ivan, two Ukrainian orphans aged 16 and 17, escaped bombing and starvation in Mariupol, but were captured and taken to Russian-occupied Donetsk, where they were held incommunicado for several months.
The young people are now among about 400 Ukrainian children who have returned from Russia or areas it controls since the start of the war in Ukraine, according to Reuters.
The boys, students at the Mariupol Construction College, were living in a dormitory when the area was bombed by Russian troops. They ran out of food and water and fled on foot to a neighboring village in March.
“When we arrived, we went to the hospital because there was nowhere else to go. We said that we were orphans, and they reported this to the hospital in Donetsk. Then child protective services arrived and asked where our parents were. And they took us away,” Maxim reported.
“We didn’t want to go there, but we had no choice. We were fed four times a week. We spent time in our rooms and played games on our phones. We were allowed out for an hour a day, but not every day,” he explains.
When they gave up hope of returning home, the mayor of Donetsk gave them SIM cards for their mobile phones, allowing them to contact the principal of the school they attended, who spent weeks trying to find them.
Anton Bilay, who under Ukrainian law was the legal guardian of the young people, traveled for three days and more than four thousand kilometers to pick up the children.
According to Reuters, Moscow denies forcibly abducting Ukrainian children, saying it found only a small number of children in orphanages or without parental care and that it was trying to place as many children as possible with family members in Russia.
Ivan, Maxim and other orphans are sharing their experiences with high-ranking officials in the Netherlands and Ukraine to spur international action.
“It is important to tell the world that the Russians are indeed stealing our children. We must return them as quickly as possible,” Maxim said.
Author: morning Post
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Tifany Hawkins, a professional journalist with years of experience in news reporting. I currently work for a prominent news website and write articles for 24NewsReporters as an author. My primary focus is on economy-related stories, though I am also experienced in several other areas of journalism.