Young Ukrainians defy Russian captors with bold rebellion
— They were trying to break us, and we were breaking them in return, — revealed Vlad, a young Ukrainian citizen who ended up in a Russian camp for children. Together with his friends, he led a rebellion, and now they have shared with the media what their detention in the center was like.
Kherson, October 2022. Denys is at school when Russians appear in his classroom and tell the Ukrainian students to pack their things. According to Politico, the boy was told by the Russians that they knew where his parents lived. The next day, Denys, along with 300 other children, was taken deep into enemy-occupied territory. Soldiers presented the departure of young Ukrainians as a camp and a "chance to relax on the beautiful Crimean Peninsula for two weeks, a welcome change after eight exhausting months living under occupation."
— We joked around and laughed, but after a while, it wasn’t funny anymore — Denys reported.
The boy ended up in Yevpatoria, a resort on the Black Sea, an area that Russia illegally annexed in 2014. The strict rules in the camp quickly led the young Ukrainians to rebel, including leaving the camp to head to the local store for alcohol, snacks, sausage, or bread. They also refused to sing the Russian anthem during assemblies.
"They were trying to break us"
In November 2022, 16-year-old Vladimir decided to perform a daring act. He hid underwear in his hoodie and went for a walk around the camp. Approaching the pole with the Russian flag, he took it down. Then, he fastened blue and white underwear and hoisted it onto the high pole. — A story to tell to my kids — Politico quotes Vladimir. The teenager, along with his friend, tore up the Russian flag and flushed the shreds down the toilet. They recorded everything on their phones.
When Vlad and his friends learned that no one would send them home, they decided to act and consciously started breaking the rules.
— They were trying to break us, and we were breaking them in return — Vlad stated.
A surprise at the assembly
The boys kept coming up with different ways to show they did not agree with what was happening in the camp or in Ukraine. At some point, the camp they were in was merged with another one, a 45-minute drive away. The rebellion weakened then, but only briefly. On New Year's Eve 2022, young Ukrainians organized a strike. When Putin's New Year's speech played, the children played the Ukrainian national anthem and Volodymyr Zelensky's speech over the speakers.
Many, including Denys, kept looking for a way to escape. However, it was not easy - even if they left the camp, they would end up on a wanted list. Additionally, the Russians rewarded informers, complicating plans to leave the camp further.
Behind closed doors
What actions did the Russians guarding the Ukrainian children take? In the camp where Denys and Vlad were, the "main source of cruelty" was Valeriy Astakhov. He is a former officer of Berkut, a Ukrainian police unit with a history of brutally treating pro-European protesters on the Maidan in 2014. Astakhov also participated in the forced deportation of Ukrainian children from Donetsk in 2014.
"Children who later returned to Ukraine reported that he locked children in basements at Druzhba and beat others with an iron bar at another camp. He cut off a T-shirt bearing a Ukrainian flag from a 15-year-old girl named Taisiya, then filmed her for a propaganda video while she cried. He sent a 12-year-old boy named Mykyta to a mental hospital," Politico reports.
For the stunt with the underwear on the pole, Astakhov punished Vlad by locking him in solitary confinement for six days. When the boy pounded his fists against the walls, the commander threatened him with a psychiatric hospital. The teenager began to consider suicide. After being released, the 16-year-old was separated from his peers and placed in a younger group.
Escape plan
Denys and Vlad escaped from the Russians in 2023, owing their escape to their families. Before this happened, they were transported to another location - the Kerch Maritime Technical College, a maritime academy three hours away from Yevpatoria. The Russians offered the boys Russian passports, 100,000 rubles, and apartments in Russia.
Meanwhile, the mother of one of the boys contacted Save Ukraine, a charity that helps in such dire situations. In June 2023, Iryna, Serhiy's mother, set off to rescue the teenagers. The organization arranged documents confirming that the woman was the legal guardian of not only her son but also Denys and Rostyk. Unfortunately, the plan did not fully succeed - the Russians did not release Rostyk, claiming his mother was in a psychiatric hospital in Crimea. Ultimately, Iryna escaped with her son and Denys. Rostyk managed to escape from the Russians a few months later.
Ukraine notes that during the ongoing war, about 20,000 Ukrainian children aged 7 to 18 ended up in similar Russian facilities. Moreover, as reported by Politico, Russia claimed to have "accepted" over 700,000 children, "rescued from a Nazi-ridden Ukraine."
