After the appeal to Zelensky: Ukrainian orphan Bohdan Ermohin kidnapped by Russia returned home

A Ukrainian orphan taken from Mariupol after Russian forces captured the Ukrainian city in the first weeks of its invasion has returned home, Kyiv said on Sunday, November 19.

The case of Bogdan Yermokhin, who turned 18 on Sunday, made international headlines after Russia issued him a draft summons to report for mandatory military conscription ahead of his 18th birthday. Kyiv said he had made it back to Ukraine after a series of negotiations involving officials in Moscow, Kyiv and Belarus.

Yermokhin's return was brokered by Qatar and the UN children's agency UNICEF, Ukraine's human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said in a social media post. He also published a photo of Yermokhin holding a Ukrainian flag at the border. "It was a thorny path. Bogdan went through a lot while in Russia, but despite everything he wanted to be home! Today his wish has come true," Lubinets said.

Yermokhin, who was previously caught by Russia trying to escape back to Ukraine via Belarus, had appealed to Zelensky for help. Russia's children's commissioner, Maria Lvova Belova – also wanted by the ICC – had said several times this year that Yermokhin wanted to stay in Russia, but was being pressured by Ukraine to return home. She later said he had "changed his mind."

On Sunday she also confirmed that Yermokhin had been transferred to Ukraine via Belarus.

Read full article by Le Monde

Photo by BBC Ukraine and Ombudsman of Ukraine