A month ago, Anton Bilai, the director of Mariupol Vocational Construction College, requested assistance from the Ministry of Reintegration to remove Mykhailo, a 17-year-old, from the TOT.

Anton Bilai already has experience: he managed to bring two orphaned college students to the government-controlled territory of free Ukraine. He followed them to the temporarily occupied Donetsk despite the danger to himself.

As soon as he learned the whereabouts of another boy, he contacted the Ministry of Reintegration and the Ukrainian Child Rights Network.

Mykhailo returned after a month. He is currently in Khmelnytskyi where his sister also lives. His dream of starting his adult life in a free Ukraine has come true.

The Ministry of Reintegration thanks Daria Kasyanova, Head of the Board of the Ukrainian Child Rights Network, and Anton Bilai, Director of the Mariupol Vocational Construction College, for returning Ukrainian children. We appreciate the humanity, courage, and dedication of all those involved in this noble cause.

Mykhailo returned thanks to the implementation of the Way Home project, in which the Ministry of Reintegration is a partner. The project’s goal is to locate and bring back children from russia and the TOT, as well as reunite families who were separated during the occupation.

If you witness the illegal transfer of children to the temporarily occupied territory or the territory of the Russian Federation, report it immediately to the Ministry of Reintegration’s specialist Natalia Yemets at (050) 562-03-13. You can also call the National Information Bureau hotline at 16-48.