Ukraine Rescues 17-Year-Old After Forced Deportation to Russia Under "Bring Kids Back UA" Initiative

Ukraine has succeeded in returning a 17-year-old boy from Russia under President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Bring Kids Back UA initiative, Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak announced on September 11.

After the occupation of his hometown, the teenager and his mother were forcibly deported—first to temporarily occupied Crimea, then deeper into Russia—where he was compelled to attend a Russian school. Despite suffering from a chronic illness, he was denied proper medical treatment, and his condition continued to deteriorate.

“His greatest dream was to return to Ukraine,” Yermak said. Now, the boy is finally home with his elder sister, receiving the necessary assistance, medical care, and support to restore his health.

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Yermak expressed gratitude to the organization Helping to Leave for facilitating his rescue.

Another case concerns a 14-year-old girl who was separated from her mother for more than three and a half years. Before Russia’s full-scale invasion, her mother had moved to Kyiv for work, while the girl stayed with her grandfather in their hometown. Russian forces occupied the settlement in the first days of the war, leaving the child cut off from her family. She has now been safely reunited with her mother in Ukraine.

Earlier, it was reported that Ukraine successfully returned another group of children from Russian-occupied territories as part of the Bring Kids Back UA initiative.