Kidnapped Ukrainian teenager commits suicide in Russian foster home

18-year-old Oleksandr Yakushchenko, who was taken to Russia from an orphanage in Kherson region, committed suicide in a foster home in the Krasnodar Territory of the Russian Federation. 

This is stated in an investigation by the “Vazhnye Istori” publication.

Oleksandr and his younger sister Khrystyna lived in the village of Tokarivka in the Kherson region before they were taken away from their family due to their parents’ alcoholism. During the occupation of part of the Kherson region, the head of the orphanage, Lidia Sharvarly, began to cooperate with the Russian military. After the liberation of the territory, she left for Russia, taking children with her.

Oleksandr Yakushchenko lived with his family in the village of Akhtanizovskaya, Krasnodar Territory, where his body was found after he committed suicide. He hanged himself a few kilometers away from his home, and, according to reports, did not leave a suicide note. The phone found next to him was disassembled and all data was erased.

Oleksandr’s own mother said that her son had promised to come to Ukraine before the New Year, but in February she learned of his death. And the children who lived with Oleksandr in Kherson confirmed that he wanted to return to Ukraine, but his new Russian guardians took away his passport.