17-year-old Ruslan was taken out of the occupation before he reached the age of majority

“Thank you for taking my son out of the occupation before he reached the age of majority,” the team of the “WAY HOME” project heard from the mother of 17-year-old Ruslan. The Ukrainian Child Rights Network and the Ministry of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine facilitated his return from the part of Kherson region temporarily uncontrolled by the Ukrainian government to the territory of free Ukraine.

“My family is in a difficult situation. My husband, who was mobilized to the Armed Forces in 2014, died defending his homeland in 2020 in Donetsk region, and I was left alone with two children,” Ruslan’s mother says.

Even before the large-scale invasion began, after his father died, the boy went to his grandmother’s house in the Kherson region, where he entered a lyceum and studied. After February 24, 2022, the town quickly came under occupation. Ruslan could not leave because he was a minor, and his grandmother could not go with her grandson either because of her cancer.

Soon after, representatives of the school came to their house and told them that the child had to go to classes and get a Russian passport. Ruslan refused. Later, they started forcing him to go through a commission to register for military service…

Ruslan’s mother turned to us for help in time. And we managed to save the boy – we took him out of the temporarily occupied territory before he turned 18.

Yesterday Ruslan crossed the border into Ukraine. This morning, the family was reunited: after more than two years of separation, his mother hugged her grown son.

The child’s name was changed for the safety of other family members.

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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, Office of the Ombudsman of Ukraine, EDUKIDS Charitable Foundation, Media Initiative for Human Rights.

As of 11.03.2024, 73 children deported to Russia or forcibly displaced to the temporarily occupied territories returned to the territory of free Ukraine as part of the Way Home project.

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.