Ukrainian Teenager Rescued From Russian Occupation After Being Denied Medical Care by Russian Authorities

Four Ukrainian teenagers have been brought back to government-controlled territory after being held in Russian-occupied areas.

The group includes a 14-year-old girl with a congenital heart condition who was denied medical assistance and the 16-year-old son of a Ukrainian soldier who was interrogated by Russian security services.

According to Bring Kids Back UA, an initiative focused on returned children Ukrainian children forcibly deported to Russian-occupied regions, the teenagers faced significant pressure and restrictions while in occupation.

One of the children, 14-year-old Kateryna, was refused medical care due to her Ukrainian citizenship. Russian authorities reportedly pressured her to change her citizenship to Russian as a condition for receiving treatment.

Her father was also coerced into signing a contract with the Russian military under the threat that she and other children would be sent to a camp. While in occupation, she suffered a nervous breakdown, after which she was assigned a state-appointed “psychologist” linked to Russian security services.

Sixteen-year-old Oleksii, the son of a Ukrainian soldier, also returned to Ukraine. Reports indicate that he was reprimanded in school for using Ukrainian letters in Russian words and was forcibly placed on military records. Some of his classmates were taken to a military enlistment office and threatened with conscription. His closest friend and her family were deported from the occupied region.

Fourteen-year-old Denys spent three years in occupation without his father, who serves in the military. Russian forces searched their home, and he was subjected to questioning by security personnel. He was also required to follow a Russian education curriculum, and his school organized military training exercises, which he refused to participate in.

Fifteen-year-old Vadym was also among those returned. The war disrupted his ability to continue his sports training and participate in competitions. He was interrogated by Russian officials and faced threats of being placed in an orphanage. Despite these conditions, he continued his education remotely through an online Ukrainian school.

A representative from Bring Kids Back UA emphasized that the effort to return Ukrainian children from occupied territories remains ongoing, stating: “Russia is not only depriving Ukrainian children of their freedom but also attempting to erase their identity. We will continue working until every Ukrainian child taken by Russia is brought home, without exception or conditions.”

Earlier, Ukraine, with the support of international partners, facilitated the return of 1,029 Ukrainian children deported to Russia, according to Dmytro Lubinets, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights. He highlighted Qatar’s key mediating role in identifying the children, restoring documentation, and negotiating their return.

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