Friends lose contact with disabled Ukrainian woman illegally transferred to Russia
Relatives and friends have lost contact with Anastasiia Mamotiuk, a Ukrainian woman with a disability who was taken by the Russian military to Russia from the Oleshky psychoneurological care home, Ukrainska Pravda. Zhyttia reported. She is currently in Penza. Contact with the woman was lost just as the issue of her return to Ukraine was being resolved.
Emile Foundation/FacebookThe Russian military occupied the Oleshky psychoneurological care home in the Kherson Region (Oblast) at the start of the full-scale invasion. In 2022, they began taking their residents to Russia.
In November 2023, Anastasiia Mamotiuk and two other adult residents were transferred to Penza.
Another former resident of the facility, Oleksandr Danylchuk, said people were informed about the departure only a day before the transfer. He said they were not asked if they wanted to go to Russia.
Anastasiia and other Ukrainians were housed in Novye Berega, a supported-living project for people with disabilities. It is managed by Sofiia Lvova-Belova, the sister of the Russian commissioner for children’s rights, Mariia Lvova-Belova, for whom the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant in 2023.
Danylchuk stated he had told Sofiia Lvova-Belova about his desire to return to his friends and family in Ukraine. At the same time, he said, the Russian side publicly stated that the Ukrainians taken to Russia supposedly did not want to return home.
After being deported to Russia, Anastasiia continued to communicate with acquaintances in Ukraine. Among them was Viacheslav Shchyrskyi, the foster father of the Dim Stefana family, whom the woman considered her own. He plans to take guardianship of her.
Shchyrskyi turned to the Emile Foundation for help in returning Anastasiia. Together with the foundation, he submitted an appeal to Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Russian human rights commissioner.
The foundation noted that Anastasiia had repeatedly expressed her desire to return to Ukraine and reported fears for her safety in Russia.
According to the Emile Foundation, the woman needs an international passport to leave Russia. She is currently waiting for it to be issued.
On 16 September 2026, Mariia Lvova-Belova published a video featuring Anastasiia. The Emile Foundation said it was impossible to assess the woman’s health or the circumstances under which the video was recorded from the footage.
The foundation stressed that a video recording could not replace direct and confidential communication with Anastasiia.
According to the organisation, direct contact with the woman has been lost over the past few days. As of 1 October, three former residents of the Oleshky children’s care home remain in Penza:
- Anastasiia Mamotiuk;
- Viktoriia Markeliuk;
- Anastasiia Yavorska.
The Emile Foundation called for an independent check of Anastasiia’s safety and health, confidential communication for her, the restoration of direct contact with those close to her, and international support for her return to Ukraine.
You may also want to read: ‘Mum, I don’t want to go back there…’: blind political prisoner Sizikov was released from a penal colony on health grounds, but then the decision was overturned
To provide background, in late August 2026, Ukrainian law enforcement officers identified those involved in the illegal deportation to Russia of 53 Ukrainian children from three orphanages in temporarily occupied Donetsk and Makiivka.
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