Press Release - November 30, 2024

Kyiv, Ukraine - November 30, 2024

For Immediate Release

On November 29, Heorhiy Bursky, a Ukrainian teenager from Oleshky Children's Boarding School in the occupied Kherson Region of Ukraine, was returned back from Russian occupation. This development follows on the recent long-read investigation conducted by The Reckoning Project and published in the New Lines Magazine on how Russia forcibly moved and deported around a hundred of disabled children from Kherson Region after February 2022. 

Heorhiy is one of the children who was taken to Russia’s occupied cities of Ukraine – first Simferopol, and then Skadovsk, where he was returned from. 

The legal guardian of Heorhiy, elder brother Petro Yenyushin, fought for the return of his brother for two years. 

In the documentary film, produced by The Reckoning Project, Petro says: “My brother was taken, when he was 14. Now he is 16. That is exactly the time when the personality and the character are being created. And if he stays there until he's 18, he'll be a developed adult already”.

After more than two years of captivity, Heorhiy was returned to Ukraine together with 7 more Ukrainian children, thanks to the assistance of Qatar and Veterans Alliance, says Ombudsman of Ukraine Dmytro Lubinets.

“It was not very comfortable to stay in Belarus, where Heorhiy was initially returned to. However the emotions from the meeting were overwhelming – we have not seen one another for more than 2 years”, says Petro. “In the next month, I will go through a heavy bureaucratic paperwork and various commissions”, he added.

Following the return, Heorhiy is undergoing medical checks. According to his legal guardian, the Russian authorities were not treating Heorhiy's medical needs correctly while in captivity. According to the Ukrainian Government, a total of 19,546 children were deported or forcibly transferred by Russia since February 24, 2022. Only less than 400 were returned.

The return of Heorhiy Bursky underscores the urgency of addressing the systemic forced deportation of Ukrainian children by Russian authorities. The Reckoning Project will continue to document these crimes and advocate for the safe return of every child to their rightful home.

ENDS.