A 20-year-old Ukrainian has been evacuated from occupied Crimea where he faced forced mobilization into the Russian military, according to a joint statement by the presidential initiative Bring Kids Back UA and the Ukrainian Network for Children's Rights.
Russia has been forcibly conscripting men from occupied Ukrainian territories, including Crimea and parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts, compelling them to accept Russian citizenship and serve in its military under threat of fines, arrests, and denial of basic services.
These practices violate the Fourth Geneva Convention.
The young man was 11 when Russia seized Crimea in 2014. For nearly half his life, speaking Ukrainian or displaying Ukrainian symbols meant risking interrogation. The pressure increased each year, the organizations report.
Last year, a conscription notice arrived. Before that came repeated police summons, questioning sessions, and fines. Authorities required him to sign a document restricting his movement from the territory. He worked without official registration and stayed out of sight to avoid conscription.
His friend, living in Ukrainian-controlled territory, contacted the Ukrainian Network for Children's Rights. The organization worked with volunteers to plan the evacuation, however, they didn't provide the specifics of his route out of occupation.
"Today the young man is finally safe — in Ukraine. He cannot hold back his emotions when he sees the Ukrainian flag and hears the language he can now speak freely," the statement reads.
From Ukrainian defender to Russian conscript
In August, Ukrainian troops captured a soldier who first fought for Ukraine and then was sent to fight for Russia.
Pavlo Pshenychnyi joined Ukraine's military in 2018 for economic reasons—there was no work in his village—and fought against Russian-backed forces near Avdiivka, Donetsk Oblast, until a sniper wounded him in 2019. After returning to Kherson Oblast as a disabled veteran, his village fell under Russian occupation in 2022.
Russian authorities arrested him on fabricated drug charges in 2024, offering a choice: 12.5 years in prison or join the Russian army.
After six weeks of training, he was deployed back to Avdiivka—fighting against his own country in the same area where he once defended it.
His case exposes Russia's systematic forced conscription in occupied territories, where Ukrainian citizens are being converted into soldiers against their own country.
