"It was worse than hell": an orphan from Mariupol told how he tried to adopt a Topliner from the Russian Federation

And then he found himself in the family of Tatiana Moskalkova's assistant, the Ombudsman in the Russian Federation. An interview with Bohdan Ermokhin, who managed to return to Ukraine, was taken by British journalist Jan Birell, writes Daily Mail. "It was worse than hell," says Bogdan Ermokhin, who was displayed on television in Moscow and forced to say that he supported Russia's attack. He recalls what life in Mariupol was before a full -scale war.

"I was born in Mariupol, lived there - and I hope I will live there again. For me, this is the most beautiful city in the world where everyone lives peacefully," says the young man. His mother died when he was 4 years old and his father was killed. When Moscow began an attack on Mariupol in February 2022, he lived in a college hostel with ten other teenagers and studied for a welder.

Mariupol became the embodiment of horror during the three -month battle of Russia for control of the strategic port, when the besieged civilians were trapped among fierce battles that led to the destruction of the city and the death of at least 8,000 people. Bogdan hid in the cellars, went out of the water, risking life. A friend who defended him from the explosion was fraught with fragments. He later kept a little girl in his hands with a wound in his chest, who died in his arms.

"It was like films about World War II: it was full of corpses on the streets," he said. In May, Russian troops arrived to clean the basement where it was hiding. He was seized with three friends, then kept with 27 others, surrounded on the streets, was taken away from families or seized during an attempt to flee to the territory controlled by Ukraine.

31 prisoners were sent to Donetsk - a Ukrainian city controlled by the Kremlin's supported separatists since 2014 - where they were issued new birth certificates from the so -called Donetsk People's Republic and the Russian phones. Bogdan was the oldest, and he tried to reassure other children, the youngest of whom was seven years old. "Some children were very frightened. The war went and they saw so much for their age.

Some children lost their parents and recently remained orphans," Bogdan recalls. He tried to protest, turning on the anthem of Ukraine on his phone, but was beaten for it. A month later, the group was taken by bus and plane to a place near Moscow, which was a "children's sanatorium", which is in charge of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation. "My first thought was that we were in full shit.

At the entrance hung plates that said the sanatorium was under the control of the Russian president. Even on Google Maps maps, he was marked as Putin," he says Bogdan. The Polyany Sanatorium states on her site that this place for children in "rehab courses", where they "rest, entertain and make new friends. " But in fact, 31 Ukrainian children were going to hand over to adoption by high -ranking Russian officials.

"These innocent victims were used for the propaganda of one of the most severe military crimes of Russia solved in Ukraine: the capture of up to 300,000 children in the systematic attempt of Putin to destroy the future of the country he invaded. They became a requisite of his propaganda machine - allegedly rescued Horror of war-and some were even forced to visit a leading rally to thank their "savior",-says journalist Jan Birell.

It was clarified that it was Maria Lviv-Belova, authorized under the President of the Russian Federation. In Ukraine. But I told her several times in the face: you brought your worst enemy to the heart of your country, ”Bogdan says. Soon Ukrainian children began to pick up families with connections. The staff gave them the choice: to agree to adoption or go to Russian Children's House. The second Bohdan Yermokhin, which was seriously injured in Mariupol It was good but they were my enemies.

They were rich. They were following me all the time. They tried to make me a good Russian-they told me that Ukraine is an enemy-but I was not a fool and began to argue, "Bogdan said. Lviv-Belova told Russian propaganda channels about how these young people were negative about Putin. , but after they were transferred to new families, their hostility was "transformed into patriotic love for Russia. " called "summer camps" for children, however, seven managed to escape. .

Almost immediately, in March, Bogdan learned that he was sent to a summer camp. Bobrovskaya, which was not detained for a short time after a trip to Belarus in an attempt to pick him up, lost her connection with Bogdan for a month. Then the teenager was presented on Russian television in Lviv-Bielova with the statement that Ukrainians tried to force him to return against his will. Obviously, this boy became an important paw in the struggle between dictatorship and world order based on rules.

A few weeks later, someone, giving himself for Bogdan, wrote Bobrovskaya - and their discussions quickly appeared in the Russian media. After another attempt to escape Lviv-Belov, forced the teenager to write a statement that condemns Ukraine. "They told him that either he would write a statement or put it in a psychiatric department," his lawyer said.

By this moment Bobrovskaya managed to obtain the Ukrainian Birth Certificate of Bohdan and find his cousin in Turkey to start a complex legal process for the design of family guardianship, which could potentially ensure his return to Ukraine. But it seems that the Kremlin was warned, which could lose its hostage. So in October, Bohdan was summoned to a meeting with Moskalkova and - in the presence of Russian journalists - asked if he really wanted to return to Ukraine.

"I told her, yes, I want to go back to Ukraine, why don't you let me go? And she said, of course, we will help you. And the next day I got a summon I will find myself in Russian trenches, "Bogdan recalls. He knew about the risks, since next month he was 18 years of age - the legitimate age for call. Suddenly, his foster family began to try to send him to the hospital for "knee treatment", it is likely that he would remain in Russia until his birthday.

These were races over time - and probably in his lifetime. Therefore, a frightened teenager sent his lawyer to Bobrovskaya a video recorded that night in the toilet, whispering, begging for help. She was shocked, seeing that he had already been cut in army. As a result, Bogdan's lawyer appealed to President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky, and Bohdan Yermokhin managed to leave the Russian Federation with the assistance of the Red Cross.