Escaped: Ukrainian Child Recounts Harrowing Ordeal in Russian Captivity | Russia-Ukraine War - video Dailymotion

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Russia has been taking Ukrainian children - we speak with one who escaped. Watch The Video     #OIDW #DWVideos #Ukraine #Russia #ChildAbduction #HumanRights #WarCrimes #Escape #ChildRefugees #ConflictZone #UkrainianChildren #RescueStories #JusticeForUkraine #WarImpact #SurvivorStories #HumanitarianCrisis #GlobalAwareness

Transcript

00:00Steps on a path to recovery.

00:07Every day, 16-year-old Volodymyr makes the 20-minute walk from his village home in southern

00:11Ukraine to this sports field.

00:16Exercising helps him cope.

00:21Sports give me confidence that I will never drink alcohol or smoke.

00:25I live a healthy lifestyle.

00:27It gives me self-confidence, for example, if someone insults a girl, I could stand up

00:33for her.

00:34When the war broke out, Volodymyr was attending a boarding school nearby.

00:39His mother passed away and his father was unable to take care of him, he tells me.

00:45He, along with his little brother, 13 other students and the school director, were waiting

00:51to be evacuated.

00:54But their town soon fell to the Russians and it was them who came for the children

00:59instead.

01:01I was not only afraid for my little brother, I was afraid for all the children.

01:06I was frightened that suddenly there might be shelling and the basement where we were

01:11hiding would collapse on us.

01:13I was afraid for everyone.

01:16Initially, Russian forces holding them kept them in the building.

01:21But when they found out the school director was planning to escape with the children,

01:26the group was moved, first to occupied Ukrainian territory, and then to a study camp in Russia.

01:33There were some children who were pro-Russian and didn't want to return to Ukraine.

01:40I was friends with some who wanted to return to Ukraine.

01:49Volodymyr and the other children completely disappeared.

01:52His uncle was worried sick.

01:57We didn't know where they were or what had happened to them.

02:01I only heard some rumors that someone had seen them somewhere.

02:06But there was no accurate information.

02:08A year later, Roman was contacted by a Ukrainian volunteer group saying that his nephews had

02:16been rescued along with the other children and had been taken to Tbilisi, Georgia.

02:23The details of that rescue, we are told, have to be kept secret, as the group hopes to do

02:28it again for some of the other children still in Russian captivity.

02:34They were standing right next to me.

02:36I could touch them.

02:38After such a long time, I could finally see them again.

02:43I can't describe how I felt.

02:45They are my soulmates, my soulmates.

02:56Now they are not as cheerful as they used to be.

02:58They've become a little more withdrawn.

03:00They still have the fear from when they were sitting in the basement when they were taken

03:04out of Ukraine by the Russians.

03:06The trace of this remained on their souls.

03:11The forcible deportation of children like Volodymyr and his brother is a potential war

03:17crime that could even qualify as genocide.

03:22For now, Volodymyr wants to put this behind him and hopes the future will be better.

03:29I want to become a tour guide and see the world, or something like that.

Escaped: Ukrainian Child Recounts Harrowing Ordeal in Russian Captivity | Russia-Ukraine War

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