Meeting of brothers after two years of separation – Ukrainian Child Rights Network returns another boy from Russia

Ukrainian Child Rights Network today returned 16-year-old Svyatoslav from Russian deportation within the framework of the project “The Way Home” project.. Це складне повернення відбулося завдяки співпраці з Мінреінтеграції, польськими дипломатами та консулом України у Любліні.

16-year-old Sviatoslav has no parents. They were replaced by his older brother, who joined the army when the full-scale war began. At that time, the boy lived with his aunt in Lysychansk.

When it became too dangerous to stay in the city, the aunt took the boy to the Voronezh region (although she had previously promised her older nephew to take his brother to another city in Ukraine). In the Russian Federation, she granted him Russian citizenship and sent him to study at a Russian school. All this happened without Svyatoslav’s consent. The boy studied, but never gave up thinking about being with his brother in Ukraine.

His older brother was also looking for a way to bring Sviatoslav back to Ukraine. He was severely injured and now uses prostheses to get around, but he wanted to take care of his younger brother and raise him on his own.

The brothers’ dream was realized thanks to the professional and coordinated efforts of the Ukrainian Child Rights Network team in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, the Ministry of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine and diplomats.

Today Sviatoslav crossed the Polish-Ukrainian border and finally hugged his brother.

It was an extremely difficult and dangerous journey, but every return is worth hearing the words: “Congratulations, you are home!”.

Photo: Ministry of Reintegration

Svyatoslav’s story is one of the cases of Ukrainian children who were illegally deported to Russia. However, thousands more underage Ukrainians are waiting for their opportunity to meet their relatives, from whom they were illegally separated by the Russians.

“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 Ministry of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, the EDUKIDS Charitable Foundation, and the Media Initiative for Human Rights.