Beyond the territory of non-freedom. The story of one return

This week, 18-year-old Andrii T. took an oath at one of Ukraine's higher military educational institutions. But we will not name either the educational institution or the boy's name and surname. And you know why? Because after he went through real hell, someone can blame the guy for the fact that he managed to do it while in the occupied territory.

A little more than four months ago, 17-year-old Andrii was on the difficult path of returning to Ukraine from the temporarily occupied territory.

At the end of May, Deputy Prime Minister, Head of the Ministry of Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine Iryna Vereshchuk wrote on her Facebook page that the boy is already at home, namely in Kyiv. It is also worth noting that her department and she herself, in close cooperation with the Ukrainian Network for Children's Rights (UNCR), take care of the return of deported young Ukrainians home.

"How many of our children are in the temporarily occupied territories, as well as in the territory of Russia, is not known for sure," says Darya Kasyanova, head of the board of the Ukrainian Network for Children's Rights (UNCR). – This information can be hidden. According to the Children of War portal, there are 19,500 deported and/or forcibly displaced children, but in fact they are much more.

Every story of the return of a Ukrainian child deported by the Russian occupiers is not simple and unlike any other. Behind each such story is the enormous work of many different people and organizations. Unfortunately, not every such story can be told at the moment.

Andrii's story is special. Like his friends, he could be on the 31st list of children who were illegally taken from Mariupol to Russia by the occupiers in May 2022 or moved to the occupied territories. However, the boy always preferred to determine his own path.

"Somehow, the official address of the Ministry of Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine received an appeal from the children's service of the Desniansky district of Kyiv that they found a boy who was registered with them as having been illegally moved to the temporarily occupied territories. Nataliia Yemets, head of the Department for Deportees of the Crisis Response Department of the Ministry of Reintegration of Ukraine, recalls the beginning of the return story. – The service reported that the boy wants to return to the territory of free Ukraine, and provided his contact information. At that time, we still did not know the details - how Andrii ended up in Mariupol, how he was then transferred to Shakhtarsk, and how he ended up in Torez.

I gave his phone number to the volunteers. So when they contacted him, Andrii replied that he was fine, he didn't need anything and no one took him away. However, literally the next day he got in touch himself. It turned out that the boy simply could not speak, he wanted to go to Ukraine and asked for help.

We began to think about how to take Andrii, who was under constant supervision at an educational institution in Torez. But one day he got on the bus by himself, buying a ticket with the money he had saved and saying that he was going to his relatives and would be back soon.

The very next day, when he was halfway to Rostov, he was wanted. It was said that he was banned from leaving the country. We convinced him to turn off his geolocation and phone. With adventures, Andrii was still able to get to Rostov, and then reach a third country.

The road, in which the boy was constantly accompanied by volunteers in one way or another, took about a week. After finally getting out of Russia, Andrii slept for a whole day. And when he came to the Ukrainian embassy and saw the Ukrainian flag, according to eyewitnesses, he burst into tears. Already after returning home (in which many different state and non-state organizations were involved) we began to learn the details of the boy's story."

As it turned out, Andrii is from Kyiv. His life was not easy from the very beginning. At the age of seven, the boy and his younger sister Tanya (there is also a brother whose fate is unknown to Andrii) received the status of children deprived of parental care. Later, the small children were taken into the care of the family, and they ended up near Kurakhov, Donetsk region.

In his teenage years, Andrii's relationship with his adoptive family finally deteriorated. About a year before the war, the boy turned to the children's service and refused to be given a guardian, saying that he would enroll in one of the Mariupol schools and live in a dormitory. However, he was not destined to finish the first course because the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine began.

"The dormitory was located on the outskirts of the city. The light was off. The left bank was bombed. My friends and I went to watch, – Andrii recalls the beginning of the war. – Then we no longer had electricity and gas. The water was turned off in a week. Bombs were already hit in our area. And my friends and I decided to move to the city center, I lived with a friend. They bombed very hard."

In the first days of the harsh war, the director of the school, who was Andrii's official representative, left the city. Since then, the boy has not had any contact with him. According to Andrii, teachers simply abandoned their students without thinking about their future fate. "They promised to take us out," says the boy.  – However, no one did anything. And we just left. After that, everyone who remained was taken away... To Russia."

Andrii and his friends stayed in Mariupol until the beginning of April 2022. According to Nataliia Yemets, he told how they walked around the objects destroyed by bombs and looked for food. How he saw people catching and eating pigeons. Andrii did not want to tell me this. And I understand him. I only remembered that the food was cooked on a fire placed outside; that he went "to the well" and to the boilers for water; and for products he went to destroyed and abandoned shops and shopping centers.

On April 1, Andrii left Mariupol. He did not have any documents with him. At first he tried to move towards Zaporizhzhia, but it didn't work out. He spent 25 days with friends in the village of Andriivka, and then decided to go to Donetsk.

It took almost a day to get there. Fortunately, the documents were not checked. Already in Donetsk, he was met by militants of the so-called DPR and taken to a shelter in the city of Shakhtarsk, where about 30 local children without parents were staying. In addition to Andrii, there was another guy from Mariupol. Now he is in Russia.

Andrii lived in the shelter for nine months. "They treated me well," he recalls. - Because I experienced a lot, so I was respected. Both adults and children."

In June 2022, the boy was given a birth certificate of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic (DPR). With this certificate, he entered the Torez Mining Technical School. And, having collected the necessary documents, he received a Russian passport – he understood that it would be useful. Although the director of the technical school did not give the boy the entire required amount of the scholarship, Andrii saved up money to return to Ukraine. The opportunity to start the journey home came in three months.

"I have always been in contact with children's services. We corresponded constantly, says the boy. "I said I want to go home."

Andrii told only his javelin coach that he was going to leave. "He is a good person, he is over 80 years old," the boy recalls. – Once I came to play football. There was an athletics coach. I was the tallest and my arms were long. He says, "Throw the stone." He wanted to test my throwing power. I threw the furthest from everyone. And he said: "You will be my disciple." And then he taught me.

When I said I was going to run away, he didn't believe me. He answered: "I'm waiting for you tomorrow for training." But the next day I already left."

I ask Andrii: "What were the feelings when you finally got to Kyiv?". "I felt a sense of freedom," he says.  – It was joyful. I knew I would be back. At least somehow I will definitely manage."

And the boy really wanted to return his friend Ihor to Ukraine: "We studied together. They lived in one room. He was like a brother to me. We were always together."

"The first thing Andrii asked me when we met was: 'Please return my friend Ihor,'" Nataliia Yemets recalls. – Unlike Andrii, the boy stayed in Mariupol, was deported and even placed under the care of a Russian family. And we got this guy back. However, this is another story."

Two days after his return, on June 1, Andrii turned 18. I asked "What would happen if you celebrated your birthday there, in the occupied territory?" He answered me, "Perhaps, I would be taken to the war. But I wouldn't fight anyway. I would definitely come up with something. I had a plan for how to get out in case of anything. I wanted to submit documents for a foreign passport," says the boy.

And when asked what advice he would give to teenagers who find themselves in a situation like his, he answered: "You must not be afraid to survive. However, I didn't care. I didn't value life. I went everywhere. Although I was under fire many times, but somehow I survived. A person gets used to everything. I'm used to it. I had to get used to it."

After returning home, Andrii was helped with the documents. In Kyiv, the boy has an apartment left to him by his grandmother. However, this apartment is in terrible condition. Now public organizations are doing repair work there. The question arose: what to do next?

"I entered a higher military educational institution and now I am studying," says the young man.  – To be honest, I didn't really know where to study. I turned 18 and wanted to go to war. I wanted to go fight in the war to help return the city of Mariupol to the control of Ukraine "...

However, Mrs. Nataliia answered: "No, it won't work like that. You should go study now." "He's a good boy," she says. –  And somehow it turns out that no matter who you turn to regarding matters related to him, everyone immediately wants to help and everything turns out well. It should be noted that he does not disappoint. I hope he will continue to do so."

" I'm always in some kind of territory," Andrii told me at the end of the conversation. – He was in an asylum for four years as a child. Then a year –  in the so-called Donetsk People's Republic (DPR). Now it is a military educational institution. But it's good here. Although there is a regime in a military educational institution, it is different."

And when asked about his plans, he answered: "I want to live, develop, build a career and a country."

The material was prepared within the framework of the "WAY HOME" project, aimed at finding and returning children displaced to the Russian Federation or to territories temporarily not under the control of the government of Ukraine. The project is implemented by the "Ukrainian Network for Children's Rights" in partnership with the international humanitarian organization called Save the Children in Ukraine.

Also partners of the network in the project are the Ministry of Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine, the EDUKIDS Charitable Fund, and the Media Initiative for Human Rights.

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