- Title: PERSONAL: Ukrainian orphans taste freedom after fleeing Russian occupation
- Date: 4th August 2023
- Summary: KYIV UKRAINE (AUGUST 2, 2023) (REUTERS) GIRL TAKING BAGS OUT OF CHARITY FOUNDATION "SAVE UKRAINE" EVACUATION BUS RECENTLY ORPHANED ILONA PAVLIUK, 16, HIDING HER FACE FROM CAMERA AS SHE WALKS TOWARDS HOSTEL (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) 16-YEAR-OLD ILONA PAVLIUK, SAYING: "I was driving when I saw (a sign reading) "Ukraine". I wanted to cry so much. Since the war began, I wanted them (Ukrainian soldiers) to come for us. But I was the one who came back. When I saw the first Ukrainian soldier, I started to cry. He asked, 'Why are you crying?', and I replied, 'Because I'm in Ukraine!" KYIV, UKRAINE (AUGUST 4, 2023) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PAVLIUK AND HER BROTHER PLAYING TABLE TENNIS PAVLIUK AND HER BROTHER WATCHING PEOPLE PLAYING TABLE TENNIS (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) 16-YEAR-OLD ILONA PAVLIUK, SAYING: "There was no ping pong during occupation, children don’t even play soccer in the stadiums. There is a stadium named "Energy" in Nova Kakhovka. No one plays there any more." PAVLIUK AND HER BROTHER PLAYING TABLE TENNIS KYIV, UKRAINE (AUGUST 2, 2023) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) 16-YEAR-OLD ILONA PAVLIUK, SAYING: "I wasn't studying, I haven't finished school. I don't have any documents. So I am considered a dummy, I guess. I couldn't go anywhere, because my father was worried. He said that the Russians could rape me. Or kill me: there have been such cases." WOMAN SPEAKING TO RESCUED CHILDREN (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) 16-YEAR-OLD ILONA PAVLIUK, SAYING: "I knew I had to leave, because they would have taken me to Russia, given me a Russian passport, and sent me to an orphanage. One or two days after I left, they came to my house, and I wasn’t there. What if I had stayed?" MEMBER OF "SAVE UKRAINE" SPEAKING TO RESCUED CHILDREN (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) 16-YEAR-OLD ILONA PAVLIUK, SAYING: "I was told that I couldn’t get any treatment (at the hospital) without a Russian passport. I was so worried, what if I couldn’t get an appointment with my gynaecologist. But they let me. They said that the prescriptions would be free with a Russian passport, but there was a charge with a Ukrainian one. I thought I’d rather buy medicine than apply for a Russian passport." PAVLIUK HOLDING HER PENGUIN NAMED VALERA (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) 16-YEAR-OLD ILONA PAVLIUK, SAYING: "I was staying with some nice people, and I asked them to give it to me (a stuffed toy she is holding). They did, and we are together for ever after. (REPORTER ASKING IF HE HELPED HER FEEL MORE CALM) Of course, look at him. Take a picture of him!" FOUNDER OF SAVE UKRAINE, MYKOLA KULEBA, SPEAKING TO RESCUED CHILDREN KYIV, UKRAINE (AUGUST 3, 2023) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) FOUNDER OF "SAVE UKRAINE", MYKOLA KULEBA, SAYING: "It is much harder to bring back an orphan child. The Russians assign a legal guardian to them to replace the previous guardian they had on Ukrainian territory. They assign a guardian or place the child into an adoptive family. After that, no possible agreements can work and it is very hard to get the child back." KYIV, UKRAINE (AUGUST 2, 2023) (REUTERS) PAVLIUK GOING UP THE STAIRS TO SEE HER NEW ROOM PAVLIUK INSIDE HER ROOM KYIV, UKRAINE (AUGUST 4, 2023) (REUTERS) PAVLIUK WALKING NEAR MOTHERLAND MONUMENT AND UKRAINIAN FLAG PAVLIUK STANDING NEAR WORLD WAR TWO MUSEUM EXHIBIT OF TANKS PAVLIUK IN FRONT OF MOTHERLAND MONUMENT STATUE PAVLIUK LOOKING AT SIGN READING (Ukrainian): "SINCE 24.02.2022 RUSSIA HAS KILLED 499 CHILDREN"
- Embargoed: 18th August 2023 13:25
- Keywords: children occupation orphans personal russia ukraine war
- Location: KYIV, UKRAINE
- City: KYIV, UKRAINE
- Country: Ukraine
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Europe,Military Conflicts
- Reuters ID: LVA001230304082023RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: After nearly a year and a half locked away in hiding under Russian occupation, followed by a daring escape last month, 16-year old Ilona Pavliuk could hardly believe it was ok to just stop and play.
Her ailing father had kept Ilona and her brother Maksym, 15, hidden in the house since the Russians came to their village, Pishchane, on the south bank of the Dinpro River, at the start of their invasion last year.
At a hostel in Kyiv, Ilona recounted that she couldn't go anywhere, because her father was worried. He said that the Russians could rape her. Or kill her: there had been such cases.
Last month, their father finally died of AIDS, the same illness that killed their mother a decade ago, leaving them orphans.
President Vladimir Putin claims to have annexed Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine. Moscow says it has gathered hundreds of thousands of orphans and vulnerable children there, taking them to Russia for their safety.
Ukraine says this amounts to forced deportation to erase the Ukrainian identity of a generation of children, a crime against humanity for which Putin has already been indicted by the International Criminal Court in the Hague.
Ilona and Maksym were able to escape with the help of Save Ukraine, a charity that maintains an underground network inside occupied parts of Ukraine and Russia itself, helping children flee. It says it has rescued 200 children so far.
Children whose parents die are the most urgent cases, because the Russian-installed occupation authorities will swiftly impose legal guardianship, said Save Ukraine's founder, Mykola Kuleba.
Save Ukraine moved fast for Maksym and Ilona. Within days of their father's death, volunteers inside Russian-held territory helped the children flee, first to Russia itself, then to Belarus, then across the border and home at last to Ukraine. Details of the journey are kept confidential to protect activists along the route.
Ilona and Maksym are now living at the group's Kyiv hostel. Once they have Ukrainian passports sorted, they will go stay with their late father's ex-wife, now a refugee in Slovakia.
For Ilona, it only hit home that she was safe at last when she saw the border guard who let her enter Ukraine at the Belarus border. A fresh tear rolls down her cheek as she recalls how she wept on her arrival.
(Production: Stefaniia Bern, Ivan Lyubysh-Kirdey) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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