Ukrainian Child Rights Network facilitated the return of 12-year-old Yevhen from Russia

For nine months, Yevhen, now 12 years old, lived in Russia and the temporarily occupied territory. He returned to free Ukraine thanks to the efforts of his grandmother and mother. This was facilitated by the Ukrainian Child Rights Network.

Iryna and her son Yevhen lived in the temporarily occupied part of Kharkiv region. At the end of August 2022, when the area had not yet been liberated, the mother decided that the best option would be to send the boy to a camp in Russia “so that the child’s psyche would suffer less from the explosions.” She did not realize how long the separation from her son would be.

Iryna was able to keep in touch with him:

“We were constantly talking on the phone, on Viber.”

According to Yevhen, the little Ukrainians were transported from place to place all over Russia. Zhenya visited three camps. When the school year began, the boy was in the 6th grade at a Russian school.

Over the phone, Iryna did not hear from her son that anyone had come to Ukrainian children to persuade them to side with Russia or to speak ill of Ukraine. And after the child’s return, she hadn’t had time to talk to her more closely, so she adds:

“Maybe later Zhenya will tell us more about what happened there.”

Iryna’s mother has been part of the journey to bring Yevhen home. The boy’s grandmother now lives in the occupied territory, and she could not find the strength to leave everything behind and leave. Iryna’s journey was no less difficult: it lasted almost two weeks.

But, praise God, the child is safe in the end. Specialists and partners of the Ukrainian Child Rights Network will help Yevhen recover as soon as possible and support his family.

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“Ukrainian Child Rights Network implements a large-scale project
CHILDREN UA: MISSION – RETURN
aimed at finding and returning home children forcibly displaced to Russia or the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. The project is a part of it
THE WAY HOME
project, which is implemented in partnership with Save the Children in Ukraine.

Our other partners are: Ministry of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine, EDUKIDS Charitable Foundation, Media Initiative for Human Rights, Istanbul for Ukraine.

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