Oleksandr Yakushchenko, 17, and his younger sister, Kristina, 13, were not deported to Russia in the traditional sense. Instead, in 2022, the children were taken to the aggressor country by their so-called legal representative, Lidia Sharvarly, the head of an orphanage in the village of Tokarivka in the Kherson region, who later became a collaborator.

According to investigators from The Reckoning Project and Vazhnye Istorii, the boy was placed in the foster home of russians Natalia and Alexander Lukashenko in Krasnodar Territory. After reaching the age of majority, the Ukrainian stayed with them because he “had nowhere else to go,” Lukashenko stated.

Yakushchenko’s body was discovered in a forest near his family’s home. The teenager died on January 10, 2024. A death certificate with the same date was published by the russian media. The Lukashenkos were told that the boy had committed suicide. There was no farewell note, the phone’s data had been erased, and the device was broken.

According to Oleksandr’s friends, the boy had a nice personality but was recently depressed and wanted to go back to Ukraine. Olena, the boy’s mother who was stripped of parental rights, told Vazhnye Istorii that she had spoken with her son a few weeks before the tragedy, and he had promised to come home soon. Karina Petrenko, who grew up with Oleksandr in the Kherson region, claims that russian guardianship officials took his documents, preventing him from leaving.

According to human rights activists from the Regional Center for Human Rights, there have been numerous reports of occupiers seizing documents and refusing to let people leave. Terrorists put children under legal and moral pressure, separate brothers and sisters, and care nothing about orphans’ psychological well-being. Oleksandr Yakushchenko’s suicide demonstrates the desperation of those who are unable to return to their homes.

This tragic story has recently become public. The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office announced that it would open a criminal investigation into a war crime that resulted in a person’s death. The Security Service of Ukraine will conduct the pre-trial investigation. However, Russian authorities have made no comment on the matter, and they have previously justified forced deportations of minors on security and voluntary grounds.

Oleksandr and his sister are among the Ukrainian children who were illegally deported from occupied territory by the aggressor country. The list includes nearly 20,000 little Ukrainians, but only 388 have been returned.

We will certainly punish the russian evil

The primary perpetrators of the crime are vladimir putin, the kremlin’s leader, and maria lvova-belova, the Children’s Rights Commissioner. The International Criminal Court has issued a warrant for their detention. They are suspected of organizing the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children. In addition, perpetrators of these war crimes include collaborators, russian guardianship authorities, educators, security forces, and border guards. Our goal is to ensure that all those responsible for the abduction of Ukrainian children face a fair punishment.

Spread the word about Russia’s war crimes by using the hashtags #JusticeForUkraine and #Stopruscism, continue to donate, and never lose faith in Ukraine’s victory.

This article was created using publicly available online resources.