Ukrainian woman meets her son after he and over a dozen other Ukrainian children were brought back from Russian-held territory to Kyiv on March 22, 2023. About 20,000 Ukrainian children have been identified as forcibly deported to Russia since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February
From Kyiv Independent by Daria Shulzhenko: One thought helped Yevhen Mezhevyi overcome the ordeal of Russian captivity – the thought of his three young children.
Single father Mezhevyi, 40, was captured by Russian troops at a checkpoint when he and his children were fleeing their war-torn hometown of Mariupol last spring.
For 45 days, Mezhevyi was kept at the notorious Olenivka prison camp in the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast. There, he endured beatings, was forced to do hard labor, was deprived of food and sleep, and was locked up in a tiny dilapidated cell with dozens of other Ukrainians.
Voice of Ukraine 