Artem, 15 years old
Artem is from Kherson. When the city was occupied by Russian troops in 2022, living conditions for the people there deteriorated dramatically. Food soon became scarce.
In sleet and cold, Artem stood in line for hours for the bare necessities – and yet often returned home without having received even a liter of milk.
The Russian soldiers shouted from their tanks: Everyone should be grateful. They had come to save the city and would stay forever. The Ukrainian army, on the other hand, would kill anyone who had even accepted food from the Russians: men, women, and children.
Artem's mother was subjected to intense pressure by the occupiers. They threatened her: she would lose custody of her son if she did not send him to a Russian propaganda school.
Soon after, she was also pressured to register him for a summer camp organized by Russia. The pressure and fear became so great that Artem's mother finally agreed to send him away for what she was told would be a "two-week stay".
Months passed. Artem's time in the "Friendship" and "Sunbeam" camps in occupied Crimea was marked by fear and contradictions. In the mornings, the children had to sing the Russian national anthem. Speaking Ukrainian was forbidden, but smoking was tolerated.
Children were punished without explanation, sometimes with brutal violence. Artem saw things no child should have to experience: a girl covered in bruises, another with slashed wrists after a suicide attempt.
After months of coercion and fear, Artem was finally freed in a rescue operation. He finally returned to the arms of his family in Kherson, which the Ukrainian army had since liberated.
