Bohdan Yermokhin, a 17-year-old from Mariupol who was forcibly taken to Russia, has reached out to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, pleading for assistance to return home.
This plea follows his receipt of a military summons in Russia.
The appeal made by Yermokhin, shared by his attorney Kateryna Bobrovska on Facebook.
"I, Bohdan Yermokhin, am currently in Russia and I implore you, Volodymyr Oleksandrovych, to aid me in returning home." Yermokhin states.
His lawyer has also requested the president's direct involvement in ensuring the teenager's safe return to Ukraine.
Reports from 7 November revealed that Bohdan Yermokhin, 17, who was unlawfully deported from Mariupol, received a military draft notice in Russia. Bohdan lost his parents at the age of eight and has been under his sister's guardianship since.
Initially, Russian forces transferred Bohdan to Donetsk under occupation. By May 2022, he was relocated to a children's sanatorium in the Moscow Oblast.
In July 2022, custody of Bohdan was transferred to Iryna Rudnitskaya, a Russian national and veteran of one of the Chechen conflicts. Subsequently, Bohdan sought assistance from a lawyer.
Bohdan's 18th birthday is on 19 November. He has been summoned to appear at the Moscow Oblast enlistment office on 19 December 2023.
