President's Office head: Teenager leaves occupied territories to his father in controlled territory
Another Ukrainian teenager left the temporarily occupied territory for the government-controlled territory within the framework of the initiative of the President of Ukraine Bring Kids Back UA, Head of the President's Office Andriy Yermak said in the Telegram channel on Thursday.
"A 17-year-old boy has lived under constant pressure and control of the occupiers for more than two years... The teenager had to leave on his own, leaving his mother, who has not yet been able to leave. Today he is already next to his father, on free Ukrainian land, receiving the necessary assistance and preparing to start a new life without fear," Yermak said.
He said the boy was forced to study according to the Russian curriculum in the occupied territories, and was threatened with "the basement" for the slightest manifestation of Ukrainian identity. "Propaganda was imposed at school, and on the streets – only Russian flags and calls to join the army of the occupiers. He tried to escape more than once, but all attempts ended in failure. Thanks to the efforts of the Ukrainian Network for Children's Rights, we managed to develop a safe route and organize the departure," Yermak said.
As reported, as of October 1, within the framework of the president's initiative Bring Kids Back, Ukraine had returned 1,645 children, after which Yermak said over 80 more, and Head of Kherson Regional Military Administration Oleksandr Prokudin, about four, and in addition about a group of children aged 10 to 17, without specifying their number.