Ukrainian woman Lyubov Rozhanska, who arrived in Kazakhstan on October 1 to pick up her grandson and was detained there at the request of the Russian Federation, has been released. The woman has now left the country.
Her lawyer Alexei Pryanishnikov reported this to DW.
According to the lawyer, Rozhanska is in one of the EU countries. She was released because three days after her arrest, the court was supposed to choose a preventive measure for her, but it did not do so, so the woman left the pre-trial detention center.
Why was Lyubov Rozhanska detained?
The story is about her 8-year-old grandson, who ended up in Russia with his mother before the full-scale invasion. In 2021, the boy’s mother Alla Andreeva (who lived in Odesa) traveled with her child to the Kaliningrad region, where she stayed to live with the family of her second husband, a Russian citizen.
In 2022, Andreeva obtained Russian citizenship for herself and her son. Meanwhile, in Ukraine, the boyʼs father sought his return. In March 2025, the Supreme Court ruled that the child should live in Odessa.
In a comment to Insider, lawyer Pryanishnikov added that the boyʼs father is a soldier in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The Russian court allowed him to see his son only during summer vacations in the Kaliningrad region.
In July 2026, the boyʼs motherʼs new husband Vitaly Andreev and his father Vyacheslav contacted Rozhanskaya and offered to hand over the child to Ukraine.
However, at that time, Russia was already preparing documents to put the Ukrainian woman on the wanted list and extradite her. The Kaliningrad court also issued a warrant for her arrest.
Rozhanska, according to her lawyer, went to Astana despite warnings because she wanted to pick up her grandson. She was detained there.
How are people in Ukraine reacting?
The Ukrainian Parliamentʼs Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets stated that Rozhanska was "lured to Kazakhstan through deception". According to him, the childʼs relatives in Russia acted in cooperation with FSB and deliberately persuaded the woman to come and pick up her grandson.
Lubinets said he had appealed to the ombudsman of Kazakhstan to prevent Rozhanskaʼs extradition, extradition, or forcible transfer to Russia. He also asked to verify the conditions of her detention, the legal grounds for her detention, and to ensure access to her by Ukrainian diplomats and a lawyer.
The press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine told LIGA.net that they are aware of this situation and are in contact with the Kazakh side. Ukrainian consuls have requested permission to visit the Ukrainian woman in the pre-trial detention center and have received preliminary consent.
The video shows Lyubov Rozhanskaʼs grandson, who was brought to Kazakhstan to be given to his grandmother.
Separately, Lubinets urged relatives of Ukrainian children who are in Russia or in temporarily occupied territories not to try to pick them up on their own.
"An independent trip to the Russian Federation or an attempt to pick up the child through third countries can create serious risks for the relatives themselves and jeopardize the childʼs subsequent return," the ombudsman said.
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