A teenager taken from Mariupol to Russia turned to Zelensky

17-year-old Bohdan Yermokhin, who was taken from occupied Mariupol to Russia and handed a summons to the military enlistment office, wrote an appeal to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky asking him to help him return to his family. The video was published on Facebook by lawyer Ekaterina Bobrovskaya, who represents Ermokhin’s interests in Ukraine.

“I, Ermokhin Bohdan, am in the territory of Russia and I am asking you, Vladimir Aleksandrovich, to help me return home,” says the young man.

A lawyer also turned to Zelenskyi. She asked the Ukrainian president to personally control the “return of the child to Ukraine.”

Ermokhin is an orphan, he lived in a foster family in Ukraine, and since 2021 he has been under the care of the state, he entered the Mariupol Higher Metallurgical Vocational School. After the capture of Mariupol by Russian troops, he was taken first to Donetsk, and then to Russia. He was granted Russian citizenship, but he also retained Ukrainian citizenship.

Ermokhin has repeatedly stated that he wants to return to Ukraine. In March, he tried to flee to Ukraine through Belarus, but was detained. The Russian authorities refer to the fact that, as a minor, he cannot decide for himself where to live.

According to the Ukrainian service of Radio Svoboda, a foster family arranged custody of the teenager in the Moscow region. At the same time, in Ukraine, he also has an official guardian – a cousin. According to lawyer Ekaterina Bobrovskaya, on August 28 Bohdan was received by the Russian Children’s Commissioner Maria Lviv-Belova, and there he “was forced to write a statement under dictation stating that he wants to stay in Russia until he comes of age.” In a conversation with Radio Svoboda, the Commissioner for Children’s Rights in Russia, Maria Lvova-Belova, admitted that soon after that Ermokhin again expressed his desire to go to Ukraine. According to her, she is ready to facilitate the return of Bohdan Ermokhin to her sister.

Lawyer Ermokhina previously stated that all requests to proceed with the case remain unanswered, and after his 18th birthday, which will come this year, Bohdan may be drafted into the Russian army. Lvova-Belova in a conversation with the Ukrainian service of Radio Svoboda stated that Ermokhin is not in danger of being called up, since he is studying at a college and has a deferment.

• In March of this year, the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for the arrest of Vladimir Putin and the Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova. They are held responsible for the illegal deportation of children from the occupied territories of Ukraine to Russia.
• According to the Ukrainian authorities, since the beginning of the invasion in 2022, about 19,000 children have been deported. Only a few hundred managed to return to their families.
• The Russian authorities claim that they “saved the children” from hostilities and are ready to return those whom their parents and guardians turn to.