Ukrainian Teen Recounts Year Under Russian Control During War

Lavrov shares his experience publicly to illustrate how Ukrainian children were subjected to indoctrination and militarisation under occupation. He now works part-time in construction and hopes to become a photographer.

After returning to Ukraine, Lavrov has no documents or belongings and requires psychological support. He begins rebuilding his life and later takes up part-time work in construction while aspiring to become a photographer.

Lavrov is rescued in a covert operation by the Save Ukraine charity and returns to Ukraine without documents or belongings.

Lavrov spends about a year between the camp system and a military college in Crimea, during which he endures strict rules and indoctrination.

Lavrov is told he will be taken to Crimea for a short break but is instead transported with other Ukrainian children to camps and facilities across the peninsula, where life is tightly controlled and Russian is enforced.

Russia launches its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Rostislav Lavrov, then 16, lives in Radensk village in the Kherson region as Russian troops enter the area within hours of the war beginning.

After his grandmother dies and his mother is taken to a mental health facility, Lavrov is confronted by five soldiers and a local collaborator at his gate. He is threatened with being sent to an orphanage and is later forced into a dormitory in Russian-occupied Kherson.