12-year-old Andrii and his grandmother were brought back from the temporarily occupied part of Kherson Oblast to the territory controlled by Ukraine.

The initiator of the boy being brought back was his older sister, reports Dmytro Lubinets, Ukrainian Commissioner for Human Rights.

In the summer of 2022, Andrii’s mother died, and since then, he had been living with his grandmother.

“During the occupation, they felt all the ‘advantages of the Russian world’: intimidation, psychological pressure, and visits by representatives of the occupation authorities.

The boy was threatened with being taken away from his grandmother and placed in an orphanage, as he was left without a legal representative,” said Lubinets.

On 1 January 2024, the joint efforts of the Commissioner for Human Rights’ Office and the Ukrainian Сhild Rights Network managed to take them to the territory controlled by Ukraine.

“Thus, the first day of the new year symbolically became the first day of a new life for this family”, Lubinets summed up.

Note: Ukraine brought back a 12-year-old son of a military woman who had been living under occupation for more than a year and a half.

Support UP or become our patron!