"Sasha Mezhevoy was five years old when she, her older brother and sister were sent to an orphanage in Moscow. They were told they were going to be adopted by a Russian family. But they were not orphans. They were Ukrainian children who had been forcibly removed from their father. Sasha grew up in Mariupol, the port city that endured more than 80 days of bombardment in one of the bloodiest and most destructive chapters of the early months of Russia's full-scale invasion."
"The family became separated in April 2022 when the children's father, Yvgeny Mezhevoy, was imprisoned in a Russian detention centre. After 45 days, he was released with no more explanation than with which he had been seized. He said that when he found out his children had been taken, a bolt of rage shot through me. Against the odds, with practical help and financial aid from a resourceful volunteer network, he recovered his three children and took them to the safety of Riga in Latvia."
"But rather than depicting the story of their harrowing deportation or arduous rescue, the film-makers focused on their experience at an animal therapy retreat in the Estonian forest. Sasha, who was seven during filming, spends her days at the retreat interviewing the women there in the hope that one will become her mother. Her real mother walked out on the family when Sasha was eight months old."
Sasha Mezhevoy and her siblings were taken to an orphanage in Moscow at age five, told they would be adopted, though they were Ukrainian children forcibly separated from their father. Sasha grew up in Mariupol, which suffered more than 80 days of bombardment during Russia's full-scale invasion. The family separated in April 2022 when father Yvgeny Mezhevoy was imprisoned and released 45 days later; he recovered his children with help from a resourceful volunteer network and brought them to Riga. A documentary about stolen Ukrainian children followed Sasha and her father but concentrated on an animal therapy retreat in the Estonian forest, where children walk dogs, ride ponies and receive therapy aimed at soothing trauma.
#forcible-deportation-of-children #mariupol-siege #family-separation-and-rescue #child-trauma-therapy
Read at www.theguardian.com
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