Nine-year-old Mykola was taken out of occupation in Luhansk region

This time, it was the people’s post office that worked – the mother of 9-year-old Mykola, who was left without her during the occupation in Luhansk region, learned about the return of her friend’s son to the territory of free Ukraine and also contacted us. Yesterday the boy and his mother, thanks to the efforts of the specialists of the “WAY HOME” project, crossed the Ukrainian border and heard the cherished “Welcome home!”.

Shortly before the full-scale invasion, Mykola’s mother moved with her husband to Mykolaiv region. The child stayed at home with his grandmother for a while: the mother did not want to transfer her son to another school in the middle of the school year. She thought to take him back after graduation.

From time to time, the woman traveled to her son. The next trip took place on February 24, 2022, but it was out of the question to go in the midst of a full-scale invasion. The child was under occupation without parents.

For a year and a half, the boy’s mother was afraid to go to pick him up – she didn’t know how things would turn out. She decided to turn to volunteers, but they asked for a lot of money, which she did not have. But one day she heard from a friend that the Ukrainian Child Rights Network helped her to reunite with her child, who also became a hostage of the war and was left in the occupied territory without parents. She also turned to us.

So the specialists of the “WAY HOME” project got to work. Three weeks passed, and Mykola and his mother are finally safe in free Ukraine.

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“The Way Home” is a project aimed at finding and returning children displaced to Russia or to the non-government controlled areas of Ukraine, as well as reuniting families whose children are without parents during the occupation. The project is implemented by the Ukrainian Child Rights Network in partnership with the international humanitarian organization 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.

Join the “WAY HOME” project and make your contribution to the return of children, as it requires considerable resources.

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The materials developed within the project do not necessarily reflect the official position of Save the Children.