Occupants intimidated children by sending them to a Crimean psychiatric hospital

Ukrainian children and teenagers were returned from the occupied territories. One of them was threatened by the occupiers to be sent to a psychiatric hospital in Crimea. Today, all of them are safe and receive support.

This was reported by the press service of the Presidential Initiative Bring Kids Back UA.

Last week, 22 Ukrainian children and teenagers were brought out of the temporarily occupied territories as part of the Presidential Initiative Bring Kids Back UA with the support of Save Ukraine and other partners. The children survived fear, pressure and humiliation.

Among those rescued: 10-year-old Damir, who was forced to study in a Russian school under the threat of being sent for "examination" in occupied Crimea with a fictitious psychiatric diagnosis. His mother was injured during the shelling and was also forced to pay a fine for her photos on social media.

Nazar, 16, and his younger brother Zakhar became outcasts in their own village because their parents, teachers, refused to work in a Russian school and take Russian passports. The family was put under pressure by the occupation service for children and the police. A report was drawn up against the boys' father because of the children's absences from school and he was summoned to a so-called "commission" to consider the case.

Olivia, 14, studied at a Russian school, where she was bullied by her peers and insulted by her nationality, called a "khokhlushka." After the birth of her younger brother, the family was forced to apply for Russian citizenship, but when their son grew up, the family decided to flee.

All the rescued children are now safe, receiving psychological support, assistance with documents, shelter and proper care.

Also, two Ukrainian teenagers from Melitopol and Nova Kakhovka shared their experience of being in Russian captivity, where they were abducted and tortured. The boy was put in a cell and forced to clean up after the torture, and the girl was placed in a camp in Yevpatoria, where more than 400 teenagers were under constant surveillance by armed guards and cameras.

In Crimea, at least 200 children are growing up without parents due to Russia's political repression of Crimean activists and Ukrainian citizens. Some of them were born after the arrests and have never seen their fathers at large.

Анна Бальчінос