A Resident of the Oleshky Boarding School, Taken to Russia Against His Will, Has Returned to Ukraine

Oleksandr Danylchuk, a 28-year-old resident of the Oleshky boarding school (Kherson Oblast), who was taken to Russia against his will and placed in the Noviye Berega district in Penza — a housing project for people with disabilities run by Sofia Lvova-Belova, the sister of children’s ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova — has returned to Ukraine. The return of the 'young adult with a disability,' whose name was not disclosed, was reported by Maria Lvova-Belova herself. IStories confirmed that the person in question is Danylchuk.

Danylchuk and three other adult residents of the Oleshky boarding school were sent to Russia in November 2023, as reported by IStories in collaboration with the war crimes investigation project The Reckoning Project. They were brought to Penza several days before the official opening of Noviye Berega. In reports about the launch, local media emphasized that the project’s residents were people from the 'new regions.'

According to Danylchuk, they were warned about the move only a day in advance and were not asked whether they wanted to relocate to Russia. “I told them that I wanted to leave. And Sonya [Sofia Lvova-Belova] said, ‘Well, maybe you’ll get used to us?’ I said ‘Sonya, how old am I? Am I 10 years old? How can I get used to this? I have friends there [in Ukraine], I have foster parents.’” he told IStories. Publicly, Lvova-Belova claimed that none of the Ukrainians taken to Penza wanted to return home.

Before the full-scale war, the Ukrainians taken to Penza had lived in the Oleshky boarding school for children with developmental disabilities; they had been declared legally incapable and deprived of parental care. Danylchuk spent most of his time with Vyacheslav Shchirsky — head of the Stephen’s Home, a project for supported living for graduates of boarding schools with developmental disabilities. Shchirsky was supposed to become Danylchuk’s official guardian, but was unable to complete the paperwork due to the war. It was his efforts that helped bring Oleksandr home, says The Reckoning Project researcher Viktoriia Novikova:

“This return became possible because Shchirsky fought for Sasha. He raised the alarm and for more than a year and a half pestered the Red Cross and other officials. Given the bureaucratic difficulties and displacements since the start of the occupation, this is one of the most complicated cases I know of. Danylchuk is now in one of the specialized boarding institutions in Ukraine,” Novikova said. According to her, the main task now is to complete all the necessary documents to transfer Danylchuk under the guardianship of Vyacheslav Shchirsky, as well as to provide him with physical and psychological rehabilitation after what he has experienced.

Danylchuk became the twelfth resident of the Oleshky boarding school to be returned home. More than 50 residents still remain under occupation. The minor wards of the boarding school live in an institution in Skadovsk under the leadership of Vitaliy Suk — a former driving school manager who, in his own words, “could never have imagined that he would one day be the director of a children’s boarding school.” The adult residents were placed in an institution in the village of Strilkove, Henichesk Raion.

Three adult residents of the Oleshky boarding school — Anastasiia Mamotiuk, Victoriia Markeliuk, and Anastasiia Yavorovska — remain in Penza. IStories has no information about preparations for their return.