In Russia, 18-year-old Ukrainian Oleksandr Yakushchenko, who was illegally deported from the Russian Federation from the Kherson region, committed suicide.
This was reported by the Russian media outlet "Important Stories".
According to media reports, before the invasion, Oleksandr lived in an orphanage in the village of Tokarivka near Kherson. The head of the institution collaborated with the Russians, so after the liberation of the right-bank part of the region, she and the children left for Russia.
The boy ended up in a foster family in Krasnodar Krai. Shortly before his suicide, he recorded an audio message to his friends in which he claimed that “nobody needed him” and “if he hadn’t come to Krasnodar Krai, there wouldn’t be any problems.”
According to the publication, Oleksandr has not met his mother, Olena Yakushchenko, since 2016. They had a bad relationship, they only communicated by phone.
The Prosecutor Generalʼs Office reported that they have initiated proceedings in connection with information about the death of a Ukrainian teenager on the fact of committing a war crime that caused the death of a person (Part 2 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
- The deportation of Ukrainian children is one of Russiaʼs war crimes, for which the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin and the Russian Childrenʼs Ombudsman, Maria Lvova-Belova.
- At least 19,546 Ukrainian children are known to have been forcibly deported to Russia, with fewer than 400 of them successfully returned. Ukraine also has evidence that Belarus is involved in the deportation of Ukrainian children.
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