As part of an agreement to release 84 civilians and soldiers from Russian captivity, a young Ukrainian who was kidnapped in the Donetsk region in 2016 at the age of 17 and imprisoned by Russian authorities, returned to his family on Thursday.
Bohdan Kovalchuk’s grandmother, Tetiana Hots, told Ukrainian public broadcaster Hromadske that she had spoken to Bohdan on the phone as he was being released, and that she would be seeing him for the first time since his imprisonment.
“Grandma, I’m coming home,” Bohdan told her.
He was among several teenagers detained in August 2016 in what Russian occupiers call the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), according to Ukrainska Pravda, citing information from the Media Initiative for Human Rights.
The teenager was living in the city of Yasynuvata with his mother, grandmother and great-grandfather. They said he was planning to move to Toretsk, about an hour north of his home, to study as an auto mechanic when he Russians detained him.
His grandmother said Bohdan was in Yasynuvata to collect documents for enrolment in a college when he and other youths were detained while leaving the occupied town. They were accused of being recruited by Ukraine’s Security Service (SSU) to blow up a railway junction in Yasynuvata.
Russian authorities labelled him the “leader of a gang” and the occupier’s courts sentenced him to 10 years in prison.
Some of the teenagers later had their charges expunged reportedly on the condition that they refuse prisoner exchange offers. Bohdan declined the offer and served his sentence in Toretsk Penal Colony No. 28. His grandmother said Bohdan never complained, telling her he could “endure everything.”
“Don’t worry,” he reassured her.
In January 2022, the Office of the Human Rights Commissioner reported that Bohdan had serious lung problems and needed regular medical supervision, which was unavailable in prison.
President Volodymyr Zelensky on social media on Thursday described the exchange.
“We are bringing Ukrainians back to Ukraine. A new exchange; a total of 84 people,” he posted. “These are both military and civilians. Almost all of them need medical care and significant rehabilitation.
“Among the civilians brought back today are those who were in Russian captivity since 2014, 2016 and 2017. The military personnel brought back today include the defenders of Mariupol. I am grateful to everyone who helps us continue to bring Ukrainian prisoners back,” Zelensky wrote.