41 Ukrainians Return From Russian Occupation via Volyn, Including 9 children

Forty-one Ukrainian citizens, including four children and five teenagers, have successfully returned from Russian-occupied territories through the Mokrany-Domanove checkpoint in the Volyn region. The returns, carried out through the crossing on Ukraine’s border with Belarus in August and September, were organized with the help of partner organizations and the office of Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. In a statement on Friday, Oct. 2, Lubinets described the experiences of several citizens who returned, while also pointing to civilians who remain trapped in occupied areas. “For each of them, this is not just a border crossing. It marks the end of months or years of life under occupation – with fear, pressure, persecution and constant uncertainty,” Lubinets said. He singled out the town of Oleshky, in the Kherson region, which he previously called a “death trap” and where Ukrainian authorities say a man-made humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding. Detentions, mobilization threats and forced treatment Volyn, bordering Poland and Belarus, remains one of few routes home for Ukrainians leaving Russian-occupied territories, as there is no safe way to cross the front line directly. Those who seek to escape often have to leave through Russia and travel via third countries before re-entering Ukraine. One family was able to leave after the father was released from captivity. According to Lubinets, their eldest son had also been held captive since April 17, 2022. The mother and her younger son had been under constant monitoring by occupational law enforcement and medical services. Other Topics of Interest G7 Members Agree to Release Up to 100M Barrels of Oil Reserves to Curb Fuel Prices French President Emmanuel Macron said that the US agreed not to impose diesel export bans. According to the family, they were previously placed in a detention facility under the pretext of receiving medical care, where they were held against their will and subjected to forced treatment. A young medic was also brought out of the occupied territories moments before she would have effectively been mobilized into Russia’s armed forces. “A little longer, and her life could have followed a path that was decided for her under occupation,” Lubinets wrote in the statement. A man who had been detained several times in the occupied territories managed to return as well. According to Lubinets, he has been held in a basement, with his Ukrainian passport confiscated. “Occupation is not just territory on a map,” Lubinets said. “Its the loss of freedom, documents, housing, work, connection with loved ones and a sense of safety.” Support continues after return Under a joint project with the charitable foundation Caritas Ukraine, returnees receive help restoring documents, temporary housing, financial support, as well as psychological and social assistance, and tickets for onward travel. The project assisted 1,140 Ukrainian nationals through August and September, including those evacuated with the help of the ombudsman’s office. Kyiv Post could not independently verify these figures. According to Lubinets, the office receives daily requests from people seeking to leave the occupied territories. His team reviews each case, subsequently searching for possible routes while working with international partners and third countries. Oleshky remains cut off The ombudsman warned that the situation remains particularly severe in Oleshky and nearby settlements, where elderly people, people with disabilities and families continue to live under constant danger. The city is located in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region on the left bank of the Dnipro River, about 5 km (3 miles) southeast of the city of Kherson, and has been under Russian occupation since the early days of the full-scale invasion in February 2022. Residents have limited access to food, water, medicine, medical care and communications, and leaving safely remains extremely difficult, with people frequently walking through mined fields just to escape. On July 16, Lubinets said Russian authorities had failed to uphold previously agreed arrangements for a humanitarian evacuation from the occupied town. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was prepared to take part in the evacuation within its mandate, while Ukrainian security and defense forces made arrangements for a ceasefire during the proposed operation. At the time, his office had received 176 appeals about the situation in Oleshky and verified at least 358 people in urgent need of help to leave. Lubinets estimated that more than 6,000 people, including around 200 children, could still be in the town and surrounding area, though the figures could not be independently verified due to tight Russian restrictions on information. “They see no other way to escape this hell,” he said, adding that “they risk stepping on mines or being hit by drones, yet they go because remaining in Oleshky is even worse for them.” Ukrainian officials said on Monday, Sept. 28 that remaining residents have been forced to eat dogs and weeds as Russian forces prevent them from leaving and block supplies from entering the city. Ukrainian forces have resolved to use drones to drop food because ground convoys cannot safely enter the city, although the deliveries cannot replace regular humanitarian access. On Wednesday, Sept. 30, Ukraine initiated an urgent meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) over the worsening situation in the city. Around the same time, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha warned that the Kremlin is preparing to stage dozens of videos featuring residents of occupied Oleshky, forcing them to claim they are “well-fed and happy.” Meanwhile, the Kremlin continues denying that it targets civilians in its fifth year of war and has also sought to shift the blame for the crisis in Oleshky onto Kyiv.