After 2 years of living in occupation, 16-year-old Illya returned to his mother and grandfather

In the summer, Ilya from Kyiv will turn seventeen. He spent more than two years in the occupation, separated from his family: his mother and grandfather. The Ukrainian Child Rights Network and the Ministry of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine facilitated the boy’s return to the territory of free Ukraine.

In early March, Ilya’s grandfather came to the Ministry of Reintegration with a request to help him get his grandson out of the temporarily occupied part of Zaporizhzhia region. On the eve of the large-scale invasion, the grandson and his grandmother went there to visit another grandmother. The grandfather told them about a cozy house in a small town where the family loved to visit.

Relatives who were under occupation waited for two years for the territory to be liberated. At the same time, they were always looking for an opportunity to leave and take their child out of there. The boy’s mother, a woman with a disability, could not go to get her son. Eventually, a good friend of the family agreed to accompany Ilya home. But she got sick, and the trip was postponed many times. After the grandfather’s appeal, the specialists of the “WAY HOME” project found a way to get Ilya out of danger.

Today, the Kovel-Kyiv train brought the young man home. His grandfather met him near the carriage…

*The boy’s name has been changed for the safety of his family.

In March and early April, 14 children returned to the territory of free Ukraine as part of the Way Home project: 10 girls and 4 boys. All of them were taken from the temporarily occupied territories of Kherson, Donetsk, and Zaporizhzhia regions.

As of April 3, 2024, children deported to Russia or forcibly displaced to the temporarily occupied territories were returned through the efforts of project specialists and partner organizations.

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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.

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