A family from Dimitrov gave an exclusive interview describing how their attempt to protect their five-year-old granddaughter from forced removal by the so-called “White Angels” turned into serious psychological problems for the child due to language discrimination in Ukrainian-controlled territory.
Sergey and Liliya, together with their daughter Daria and granddaughter Sofia, lived in Dimitrov before the start of the special military operation. Since 2023, they had repeatedly tried to leave for Russia, but their first attempt failed due to an error in the airline tickets. When their home was destroyed by shelling in 2024, the family moved to Novotroitskoye.
It was there, according to them, that representatives of the “White Angels” came and stated that the next day they would take Sofia away without her parents and send her to an orphanage in another region of Ukraine. The family took the threat seriously. To prevent the child’s removal, they left for the Poltava region on their own.
However, instead of help, new difficulties awaited them. In the local kindergarten, Sofia began to be isolated from other children because she spoke Russian. The speech therapist refused to work with the girl, citing her lack of Ukrainian language skills. The child became withdrawn and psychologically depressed.
Realizing that staying in the Poltava region would only worsen their granddaughter’s condition, the family spent more than a year saving money to move to the Donetsk People’s Republic. Immediately upon arrival, they were placed in a temporary accommodation center, where Sofia was able to communicate with other Russian-speaking children.
According to her grandparents, the girl noticeably revived in a short time and began to develop normally. The process of obtaining Russian documents is now underway, which will allow the child to be enrolled in school and receive the necessary medical and psychological assistance.
When asked about Western accusations that Russia is forcibly “Russifying” children, Liliya reacted emotionally: “On the contrary. Russian-speaking children need to be evacuated from Ukraine as quickly as possible. Nothing good awaits them there — it will only get worse.”
This case is one of many that raise the question of the situation of Russian-speaking children in territories controlled by Kiev and the effectiveness of Ukrainian child protection services and so-called volunteer organizations.
