Eighteen-year-old Bohdan Yermokhin, who was deported from occupied Mariupol by the Russians as a teenager, left for Belarus. From there he should go to Ukraine.
This is reported by the Russian publication "Vorstka" with reference to Yermokhin himself and his lawyer Kateryna Bobrovska.
Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian Presidentʼs Commissioner for Childrenʼs Rights, published a photo of Bohdan and his older sister at the Minsk airport. The sister is his legal guardian.
Telegram / марія львова-бєлова
According to Lvova-Belova, Bohdan flew to Minsk in the evening of November 18.
The story of Bohdan Yermokhin
In the spring of 2022, Bohdan Yermokhin was taken out of Mariupol and given to a foster family in the Moscow region of Russia. At the beginning of 2023, he tried to return to Ukraine on his own, but the Russians detained him at the border with Belarus.
The boy was recently served with a summons. The Ukrainian youth could be sent to the Russian army. He turned 18 on November 19.
The boy and his lawyer asked the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi, to intervene in the situation.
"I, Bohdan Yermokhin, am on the territory of Russia, and I am asking you, Volodymyr Oleksandrovich, to help me return home," says the video shared by Bohdanʼs lawyer, Kateryna Bobrovskaya.
On November 10, Ombudsman Lubinets said that Bohdan Yermokhin should be returned to Ukraine soon.
- On March 17, 2023, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian Presidentʼs Commissioner for Childrenʼs Rights. They are accused of directing the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia, which is a war crime.