Kenneth Glad
Growing up means picturing the life you want to build. Sometimes a forced move to a completely new place opens your eyes to unexpected possibilities. Once you taste that freedom, walking away is nearly impossible.
In March 2022, a 15-year-old boy named Denys sat on a bus out of eastern Ukraine. He had never traveled abroad before.
He arrived in the Italian Alps with over a hundred children from his orphanage. According to The Guardian, these young people were quickly evacuated for their own safety the moment the Russian invasion began.
Once he started school and made local friends, Denys quickly settled into Italian life. He discovered a peaceful routine far away from danger, and he simply refused to go back.
“I started to realise there was a different way of life I could be living,” he told the newspaper. “One that didn’t involve airstrikes and poverty, and that could give me better opportunities for my future.”
The fight to stay
Over 1,500 evacuated children still live across Europe today. Officials in Kyiv want them back, but many are refusing to pack their bags.
Italian courts have helped some teenagers stay, bypassing demands from Ukraine. The Guardian notes that Italian foster families worry about sending kids into a dangerous war zone.
The dispute escalated significantly in April. An Italian family formally adopted a 15-year-old boy, and the local court simply overruled a 2022 Ukrainian ban on international adoptions.
Legal expert Kateryna Rashevska said to the British paper, “We are losing those who should’ve been the future citizens of our nation. If these children ever actually return to Ukraine, they will have limited Ukrainian language, culture, history and identity, which also poses a threat to our future heritage and demography.”
Trapped back home
For some, returning is a harsh reality check. Evelina spent nearly two years with a foster family in Sicily before authorities sent her back.
Instead of a warm welcome, she ended up near the Romanian border. She told The Guardian that her new adoptive family already housed several foster children, making the environment feel just like an orphanage.
Her guardians quickly confiscated her phone. They kept it for over a year to block all contact with her Italian foster mother, keeping the teenager confined indoors without regular schooling.
“I felt very depressed; I didn’t understand why they made me return to live like this.”
After receiving a new device in autumn 2024, she secretly reconnected with her foster mother on Telegram. Evelina begged the Italian woman to take her back to Sicily.
Once her Ukrainian guardians discovered the messages, they took the phone away again. They permanently deleted her chat accounts.
Now 18, Evelina plans to use her European connections to leave Ukraine for good. She cannot wait to return to the EU.
“It was unfair to pretend we’d just get a quick taste of freedom in Europe and then head back to a place that can’t offer us as much as an EU country can right now,.”
Torn between worlds
Yuliya Donnichenko manages evacuations and returns for about 100 of these young people. She noticed some couples using the chaotic war to bypass strict international adoption rules.
She told the publication, “I know that they meant the best for these kids, that they became attached to them and wanted the best for their future, away from a war-torn nation. But what they don’t understand is that by [seeking adoption] they’re putting at risk an already fragile situation.”
Diego Mosca supervised a large group of these children, watching them get tossed around like tennis balls during the bitter legal dispute.
He told the outlet, “This situation has traumatised them and will forever leave wounds on their psyche. Providing mental health support to those who returned should be a priority over demographic needs.”
Source: The Guardian
