We were able to bring the children home from Russian captivity. We recorded three stories from their parents
Source: The Village Ukraine
The deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia and the attempt to erase their identity—by altering their documents or illegally adopting them—constitutes genocide, one of the four international crimes.
In mid-March of this year, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova in connection with the illegal deportation and transfer of children from the occupied territories of Ukraine to Russia. According to official statistics, as of July 10, nearly 19,500 children had been forcibly deported or taken to the Russian Federation. Russia, however, claims there are 744,000 Ukrainian children on its territory.
How is Russia abducting Ukrainian children, and how are they being returned to their homeland? The editorial team at The Village Ukraine spoke with parents who managed to bring their children back to Ukraine from Russian captivity.
Kateryna Skopina
mother of 6-year-old Anna-Maria (Mariupol)
“They didn’t want to give [our child] back because we’re military personnel”
Kateryna Skopina, Ihor Dmytrykovskyi, and Anna-Maria
Kateryna Skopina and Igor Dmitrikovsky, a military couple, lived in Mariupol with their daughter Anna-Maria until Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. On February 21, 2022, Kateryna and her husband were called up for combat duty. They decided to take their daughter to her father’s parents in the village of Novokrasnivka in the Mariupol district. The couple agreed with them that they would take their car and drive their granddaughter to Kateryna’s parents in Lviv, where they themselves would stay for the duration of the active hostilities. “But they didn’t honor that agreement,” Skopina says.
On the night of April 12–13, Skopina was taken prisoner along with about 1,500 soldiers who were stationed at the Ilyich Plant. At first, she and the other prisoners were held at a penal colony in Olenivka, and later transported to Russia—first to Taganrog, then to the Belgorod and Kursk regions, and finally to Kursk. Kateryna was eventually exchanged after eight months in captivity. Her husband was also taken prisoner and remained there for over a year—until the end of April of this year.
After returning from captivity, Kateryna Skopina learned that her daughter had remained under occupation. At first, her husband’s parents allowed her to speak with her daughter on the phone, but later they said, “She’s Russian.” “They didn’t want to give [the child] back because we’re military personnel. They used this to manipulate and blackmail us…” says Skopina.
Kateryna suspects that her father- and mother-in-law may have obtained Russian documents for the child, but she does not know for certain. She filed a police report regarding her daughter’s abduction and reached out to human rights organizations and government agencies to get her back. She received a call from the ombudsman’s office, and they helped her get her daughter back on May 8. The family now lives in Kyiv, and the parents continue to serve in the military. “You have to do something every day—don’t give in to despair, just keep taking action,” Kateryna advises those seeking to bring their children back from the occupied territories or Russia.
Alesya Savinska
mother of 14-year-old Sofia (Kherson)
“I was interrogated for an hour and a half at the Belarusian border”
Alesya Savinska, the mother of 14-year-old Sofia, did not immediately learn that her daughter was in a camp in Anapa. The family was living in Kherson at the time of the full-scale invasion.
Her daughter attended school in another part of the city, so she lived with her grandmother five days a week. On weekends, she would return home. Starting last September, the school began teaching children according to the Russian curriculum. Alesya was against Sofia continuing her studies there, but Sofia and her grandmother decided otherwise—and the girl ended up going to school.
Later, the school began inviting children to a camp in Russia. Alesya again objected when Sofia asked about it. “Then, on October 14, a friend of mine—whose children went to school with ours—called me. She said that Sofia was already on the left bank and was on her way to the camp. I started calling Sofia’s grandmother, but no one answered the phone. Later, they sent me a text message saying that they were somewhere in a village at her grandmother’s friend’s house and there was no cell service there. So they had tricked me… And it went on like that for about ten days, after which my daughter messaged me on Telegram admitting that she had indeed gone to camp. But she didn’t say anything specific—which camp, or with whom. She just wrote from time to time to say that she was doing fine,” says Alesya Savinska.
In early December, she left Kherson due to heavy shelling of the city following its de-occupation, but before that, she filed a report with the police regarding her daughter’s abduction. And at the end of that same month, her daughter wrote to her saying she wanted to come home and asking Alesya to pick her up.
Volunteers from the organization Save Ukraine helped Savinska bring her daughter back. They bought tickets and planned a route through Poland and Belarus to Russia. But they also asked her to bring back two other children from Crimea. The children’s grandmother died on the way to Russia. Alesya was able to bring back only one girl; the other was presumably adopted in Russia.
At the Belarusian border, Alesya was questioned for an hour and a half; they pressed her for the purpose of her visit. “They asked why I was traveling. I had a story, but it didn’t hold up... They wouldn’t let me go until they found out the truth… But in Russia, I was better prepared; the questioning there lasted about 20–30 minutes,” says Katerina, without going into details.
She traveled to the Krasnodar Krai to pick up her daughter. Her mother-in-law finalized all the paperwork to relinquish custody, and her mother took the girl home. “Sofia didn’t draw any conclusions. She was happy there; her grandmother was there, and grandmothers are always kind. But her mom is bad… She doesn’t even understand how this could have ended,” the woman says sadly.
Svitlana Popova
mother of 16-year-old Alina (Kherson Oblast)
“In Crimea, they issued Alina a Russian birth certificate”
16-year-old Alina Kovalyova from the village of Novokayry in the Beryslav District of the Kherson Region traveled to the Russian city of Kovilkino in Mordovia. She was persuaded to go there by her neighbor Yevgeniya, whom the girl had been helping with her children.
The girl’s mother—Svetlana Popova—didn’t know about her daughter’s plans and, after she left, couldn’t get in touch with her for about half a year. “This Zhenya has five children, so my daughter went to help out and babysit. But the neighbor herself was running off to the ‘Russians.’ And then one day she told my Alina that the Ukrainians were coming and would kill everyone who’d collaborated with the Russians. I told her, ‘You’re just a kid… Well, those ‘Russians’ gave you condensed milk, canned meat… That doesn’t mean you’re collaborating.” They gave it to everyone—we had to survive nine months under occupation somehow. They brought it home,” says Svitlana.
According to her, the neighbor still had to persuade her daughter to go to Russia. Alina secretly stole her birth certificate and left with Zhenya without telling her mother a word.
“In Crimea, they issued Alina a Russian birth certificate, and in Mordovia, where they were settled, Zhenya registered as her legal guardian and received guardian’s benefits… She bought herself a house, an apartment…” notes Popova.
It took her half a year to track down her neighbor: the neighbor had created a new Facebook account, and Alina’s new profile was found among her “friends.” “We started messaging each other, and I wrote that I would come and take her back. When Zhenya found out about this, she smashed her daughter’s phone so she couldn’t communicate with me. But by the time I arrived, all the documents were ready: Zhenya had signed a waiver of guardianship and sent Alina to Ruzaivka, to a rehabilitation center. When I arrived, Alina had already been there for four days,” says Svitlana.
The trip to Russia was very difficult; the women traveling to pick up their children didn’t sleep for three nights. But Svetlana didn’t encounter any difficulties getting the paperwork in order to take Alina out of the country.
“[Alina] said she doesn’t want to go back there anymore… And recently, I had two grandchildren born [Svitlana has eight children] in Kryvyi Rih, where we all live now. Let her take care of her own kids,” says Popova with a smile.
The deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia and the attempt to erase their identity—by altering their documents or illegally adopting them—constitutes genocide, one of the four international crimes.
In mid-March of this year, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova in connection with the illegal deportation and transfer of children from the occupied territories of Ukraine to Russia. According to official statistics, as of July 10, nearly 19,500 children had been forcibly deported or taken to the Russian Federation. Russia, however, claims there are 744,000 Ukrainian children on its territory.
How is Russia abducting Ukrainian children, and how are they being returned to their homeland? The editorial team at The Village Ukraine spoke with parents who managed to bring their children back to Ukraine from Russian captivity.
Kateryna Skopina
mother of 6-year-old Anna-Maria (Mariupol)
“They didn’t want to give [our child] back because we’re military personnel”
Kateryna Skopina, Ihor Dmytrykovskyi, and Anna-Maria
Kateryna Skopina and Igor Dmitrikovsky, a military couple, lived in Mariupol with their daughter Anna-Maria until Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. On February 21, 2022, Kateryna and her husband were called up for combat duty. They decided to take their daughter to her father’s parents in the village of Novokrasnivka in the Mariupol district. The couple agreed with them that they would take their car and drive their granddaughter to Kateryna’s parents in Lviv, where they themselves would stay for the duration of the active hostilities. “But they didn’t honor that agreement,” Skopina says.
On the night of April 12–13, Skopina was taken prisoner along with about 1,500 soldiers who were stationed at the Ilyich Plant. At first, she and the other prisoners were held at a penal colony in Olenivka, and later transported to Russia—first to Taganrog, then to the Belgorod and Kursk regions, and finally to Kursk. Kateryna was eventually exchanged after eight months in captivity. Her husband was also taken prisoner and remained there for over a year—until the end of April of this year.
After returning from captivity, Kateryna Skopina learned that her daughter had remained under occupation. At first, her husband’s parents allowed her to speak with her daughter on the phone, but later they said, “She’s Russian.” “They didn’t want to give [the child] back because we’re military personnel. They used this to manipulate and blackmail us…” says Skopina.
Kateryna suspects that her father- and mother-in-law may have obtained Russian documents for the child, but she does not know for certain. She filed a police report regarding her daughter’s abduction and reached out to human rights organizations and government agencies to get her back. She received a call from the ombudsman’s office, and they helped her get her daughter back on May 8. The family now lives in Kyiv, and the parents continue to serve in the military. “You have to do something every day—don’t give in to despair, just keep taking action,” Kateryna advises those seeking to bring their children back from the occupied territories or Russia.
Alesya Savinska
mother of 14-year-old Sofia (Kherson)
“I was interrogated for an hour and a half at the Belarusian border”
Alesya Savinska, the mother of 14-year-old Sofia, did not immediately learn that her daughter was in a camp in Anapa. The family was living in Kherson at the time of the full-scale invasion.
Her daughter attended school in another part of the city, so she lived with her grandmother five days a week. On weekends, she would return home. Starting last September, the school began teaching children according to the Russian curriculum. Alesya was against Sofia continuing her studies there, but Sofia and her grandmother decided otherwise—and the girl ended up going to school.
Later, the school began inviting children to a camp in Russia. Alesya again objected when Sofia asked about it. “Then, on October 14, a friend of mine—whose children went to school with ours—called me. She said that Sofia was already on the left bank and was on her way to the camp. I started calling Sofia’s grandmother, but no one answered the phone. Later, they sent me a text message saying that they were somewhere in a village at her grandmother’s friend’s house and there was no cell service there. So they had tricked me… And it went on like that for about ten days, after which my daughter messaged me on Telegram admitting that she had indeed gone to camp. But she didn’t say anything specific—which camp, or with whom. She just wrote from time to time to say that she was doing fine,” says Alesya Savinska.
In early December, she left Kherson due to heavy shelling of the city following its de-occupation, but before that, she filed a report with the police regarding her daughter’s abduction. And at the end of that same month, her daughter wrote to her saying she wanted to come home and asking Alesya to pick her up.
Volunteers from the organization Save Ukraine helped Savinska bring her daughter back. They bought tickets and planned a route through Poland and Belarus to Russia. But they also asked her to bring back two other children from Crimea. The children’s grandmother died on the way to Russia. Alesya was able to bring back only one girl; the other was presumably adopted in Russia.
At the Belarusian border, Alesya was questioned for an hour and a half; they pressed her for the purpose of her visit. “They asked why I was traveling. I had a story, but it didn’t hold up... They wouldn’t let me go until they found out the truth… But in Russia, I was better prepared; the questioning there lasted about 20–30 minutes,” says Katerina, without going into details.
She traveled to the Krasnodar Krai to pick up her daughter. Her mother-in-law finalized all the paperwork to relinquish custody, and her mother took the girl home. “Sofia didn’t draw any conclusions. She was happy there; her grandmother was there, and grandmothers are always kind. But her mom is bad… She doesn’t even understand how this could have ended,” the woman says sadly.
Svitlana Popova
mother of 16-year-old Alina (Kherson Oblast)
“In Crimea, they issued Alina a Russian birth certificate”
16-year-old Alina Kovalyova from the village of Novokayry in the Beryslav District of the Kherson Region traveled to the Russian city of Kovilkino in Mordovia. She was persuaded to go there by her neighbor Yevgeniya, whom the girl had been helping with her children.
The girl’s mother—Svetlana Popova—didn’t know about her daughter’s plans and, after she left, couldn’t get in touch with her for about half a year. “This Zhenya has five children, so my daughter went to help out and babysit. But the neighbor herself was running off to the ‘Russians.’ And then one day she told my Alina that the Ukrainians were coming and would kill everyone who’d collaborated with the Russians. I told her, ‘You’re just a kid… Well, those ‘Russians’ gave you condensed milk, canned meat… That doesn’t mean you’re collaborating.” They gave it to everyone—we had to survive nine months under occupation somehow. They brought it home,” says Svitlana.
According to her, the neighbor still had to persuade her daughter to go to Russia. Alina secretly stole her birth certificate and left with Zhenya without telling her mother a word.
“In Crimea, they issued Alina a Russian birth certificate, and in Mordovia, where they were settled, Zhenya registered as her legal guardian and received guardian’s benefits… She bought herself a house, an apartment…” notes Popova.
It took her half a year to track down her neighbor: the neighbor had created a new Facebook account, and Alina’s new profile was found among her “friends.” “We started messaging each other, and I wrote that I would come and take her back. When Zhenya found out about this, she smashed her daughter’s phone so she couldn’t communicate with me. But by the time I arrived, all the documents were ready: Zhenya had signed a waiver of guardianship and sent Alina to Ruzaivka, to a rehabilitation center. When I arrived, Alina had already been there for four days,” says Svitlana.
The trip to Russia was very difficult; the women traveling to pick up their children didn’t sleep for three nights. But Svetlana didn’t encounter any difficulties getting the paperwork in order to take Alina out of the country.
“[Alina] said she doesn’t want to go back there anymore… And recently, I had two grandchildren born [Svitlana has eight children] in Kryvyi Rih, where we all live now. Let her take care of her own kids,” says Popova with a smile.
This is an automatic translation generated by DeepL.
