Story 19: Anastasiia and Veronika
Two sisters 15 y.o. Anastasia and 13 y.o. Veronika lived with her mother in Luhansk region.
People story
OpenSource
A 15-year-old, Anastasiia, was deported from Kherson to temporarily occupied Crimea in September. Her schoolteacher, a collaborator, organized a trip to a “health camp in Crimea”. Anastasiia’s mother, Lyudmila, didn’t have much time to think on the proposal as the teacher rushed her to sign documents. Lyudmila was surprised to see about 100 buses filled with children of all ages when she bid farewell to her daughter at the station. It was as if collaborators were taking away all the children from Kherson.
In three weeks, when Anastasiia was supposed to return from that camp in Crimea, she did not. Neither she returned in a week, nor in a month. Lyudmila was told the return was postponed. It was then she understood her child was kidnapped and deported.
Anastasiia recalls the kinds in the camp were all from Kherson, they had to sing the Russian anthem every morning. They were also shown Russian propaganda films to brainwash kids.
Lyudmila searched for ways to return Anastasiia back. She found volunteers who organized a trip to Crimea and helped to bring Anastasiia back home legally. The mother and daughter finally reunited and live in liberated Kherson.
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Two sisters 15 y.o. Anastasia and 13 y.o. Veronika lived with her mother in Luhansk region.
Ilia, 19, with his mother and brother was forcibly taken to the RF by bus from Mariupol. By then the city was ruined and fully occupied by the Russian forces. Ilia and his family had no way to escape.
10-year-old Yevheniia lived with her mother in Kupyansk in Kharkiv region. The city was occupied since the first days of Russia’s full-scale war, but the family didn’t want to leave their home.