Two young adults were successfully brought back from the temporarily occupied territory

As part of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Bring Kids Back UA initiative, the Helping to Leave team helped two young men return from the temporarily occupied part of the Kherson region to Ukrainian-controlled territory.

▪️ Petro* lived in the Kherson region. Before Russia’s full-scale invasion, he was studying to become a ship’s cook. After the occupation began, he stayed behind to care for his grandmother and rarely left the house.

After his grandmother passed away, Petro decided to leave the temporarily occupied territory and contacted Helping to Leave for assistance.

The team helped coordinate his route and organise the journey. Today, Petro is already in Ukrainian-controlled territory. He plans to restore his documents and look for a job.

▪️ Hlib* also wanted to leave the temporarily occupied part of the Kherson region, so he reached out to Helping to Leave.

The team helped arrange his route, but the journey turned out to be longer than expected.

With the assistance of the Joint Centre for Coordination of Search and Release of Prisoners of War, Hlib obtained a certificate of return to Ukraine (the so-called “white passport”) at the Ukrainian Embassy in Minsk.

He is now in Ukrainian-controlled territory. He is restoring his documents and planning his next steps here.

We thank the Joint Centre for Coordination of Search and Release of Prisoners of War for its assistance and cooperation in facilitating their return.

All names have been changed for security reasons.