Teenager who was deported from occupied Mariupol to Russia and served military summons returns to Ukraine

Bohdan Yermokhin, a Ukrainian teenager who was deported to Russia from occupied Mariupol in 2022 and recently received a military summons, told independent outlet Verstka that he had left Russia and was in Belarus, where he met with his sister.

Later, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak announced that Yermokhin had returned to Ukraine. On November 19, Yermokhin turned 18 years old.

Bohdan Yermokhin lost both of his parents several years ago. Before Moscow launched its full-scale invasion, he was attending college in Mariupol, where the school’s director acted as his legal guardian. After the city was captured by Russian forces, Yermokhin was deported to Russia and put under the custody of a family in the Moscow region.

In March 2023, Yermokhin tried to flee from Russia but was stopped by security forces near the Belarus-Ukraine border. Russian Children's Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova later said that Yermokhin’s escape attempt was a “provocation” and that he had been “lured to Ukrainian territory by means of manipulations and threats.”

Earlier this month, it was reported that Yermokhin had been issued a summons to report to a Russian military enlistment office in December, after he turns 18.