Ukrainian teenager taken by Russians considered suicide after solitary confinement
In October last year, Tetiana Rudenko was away from her home in southern Ukraine attending her mother’s funeral.
While she was out, armed Russian men in balaclavas arrived and ordered her 17-year-old son Vlad to go with them.
He at first refused but realised he had little choice.
“They had weapons with them. And I understood that everything could get bad. So I packed my things and went with them. Better not to mess around with them,” he told Sky News.
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It was the beginning of eight months in Russian hands – being in Russian-controlled territory camps whilst separated from his family, his home and everything he knew and trusted.
Tetiana was beside herself.
“He was not allowed to leave because of the tragedy that had just happened to us. When I found out he was already gone, I was very angry,” she said.
“I missed and worried about him, especially when there was no communication, when the connection was cut off. I was very concerned and missed my son a lot.”
Vlad’s new life was one of indoctrination by the Russians.
In photos he sent his mother from one camp after another, he was beginning to change. They showed him brandishing a gun and boxing. He had never played any sport before.
Vlad’s mother says his personality appeared to change while in the camps
But there were more worrying signs too, of injuries, a broken leg and broken finger.
There was mental and physical abuse, he says, and he was punished when he tried to leave.
“I felt bad because I didn’t like the place I was in, and I was interrogated and asked why I left, I said I want to come home to Ukraine,” he said.
‘Cash and a flat to become Russian’
The Russians put Vlad in solitary confinement, he says, where he considered killing himself.
“It was difficult. Five days of not talking to anyone.
Vlad was put in body armour and taken from his home
The teenager says he suffered physical and mental abuse
“And all you just see is someone bringing you food and you’re sitting and thinking what to do. You’re just isolated, you don’t hear anything, it’s like you’re deaf and I was thinking about suicide.”
The camps were in Russian-controlled Crimea and occupied Kherson region.
Vlad says the children are told there that Ukraine is run by Nazis, that their families did not expect them home, and they are offered incentives to aspire for Russian citizenship – including the promise of cash and apartments.
They are made to sing the Russian national anthem.
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The Russians claim they are saving children from war for humanitarian reasons.
They say they intend to return children who have been evacuated from the conflict zone to Ukraine when the conditions there are safe enough for them to do so.
Tetiana Bodak embarked on a dangerous mission to find her son
Children being “forcefully brought to Russia” is an issue that has been “totally overblown”, they say.
Back home, Tetiana asked an NGO for help. She and a handful of mothers plotted with ‘Save Ukraine’ on ways to bring back their children.
Mum interrogated after rescue mission
To rescue Vlad, Tetiana would risk a perilous journey from Ukraine into Poland, then Belarus, before flying to Moscow and overland through Russia into occupied Ukraine.
It spanned thousands of miles and took over a week, when finally, she was reunited with her son. She recalled the moment.
Vlad posted this picture of an open road as he finally headed home
Vlad is now enjoying time at home with brother Kostia
“Tears, tears. I was crying. I just hugged him and cried. I didn’t have any other emotions, just tears were running from my eyes,” she said.
But her ordeal wasn’t over: the Russians held Tetiana for six days and interrogated her for 10 hours, even placing a bag over her head, leaving her haunted by the ordeal.
“Every time I think about it, I just want to forget it, like a nightmare that never happened. I had lots of different thoughts.
“I worried that they could have taken me and I would have never returned, and I feared that I would never see any of my children again, not just Vlad,” she said.
Eventually, the Russians let both go, to make the long journey back to Ukraine.
They’re stuck in Kyiv now, home is too dangerous to go back to because of Russian shelling.
But Tetiana’s worries haven’t ended.
She said Vlad’s eight months in Russian camps have changed him and he can’t open up about what really happened.
“It pains me deeply that I’ve come all this way and he just pushes me away. I feel offended.
“But I understand him, as a mother I forgive him, because I don’t know the whole truth about what had happened to him. Maybe he is doing this because he wants to protect me,” she said.
Tetiana fears there is a lot her son isn’t telling her about his time in Russia
The NGO that helped Tetiana bring Vlad back says the others left behind are being turned into young Russians to help with the war on Ukraine.
Mykolo Kuleba, from Save Ukraine, told Sky News: “The worst is that these children will be growing with the hate of Ukraine.
“They will grow and receive Russian citizenship and go fight against Ukraine to understand that Ukraine is the enemy, and I’m very afraid that we will lose thousands, or hundreds of thousands of children, who Russia has brainwashed.”
Vlad may be back on Ukrainian soil, but the trauma inflicted by the Russians is still with him and his mother.
Across occupied Ukraine and deep into Russia, so many more like him have yet to come home and perhaps never will.
:: Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.
World
Trump criticises Putin after potentially ‘historic’ meeting with Zelenskyy before Pope’s funeral
Donald Trump has criticised Vladimir Putin and suggested a shift in his stance towards the Russian president after a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy before the Pope’s funeral.
The Ukrainian president said the one-on-one talks could prove to be “historic” after pictures showed him sitting opposite Mr Trump, around two feet apart, in the large marble hall inside St Peter’s Basilica.
The US president said he doubted his Russian counterpart’s willingness to end the war after leaving Rome after the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican.
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In a post on his Truth Social platform, he said “there was no reason” for the Russian president “to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days”.
The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
He added: “It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”
The meeting between the US and Ukrainian leaders was their first face-to-face encounter since a very public row in the Oval Office in February.
Mr Zelenskyy said he had a good meeting with Mr Trump in which they talked about the defence of the Ukrainian people, a full and unconditional ceasefire, and a durable and lasting peace that would prevent the war restarting.
Other images released by the Ukrainian president’s office show Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were present for part of the talks, which were described as “positive” by the French presidency.
Mr Zelenskyy‘s spokesman said the meeting lasted for around 15 minutes and he and Mr Trump had agreed to hold further discussions later on Saturday.
The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet in the Basilica
But the US president left Rome for Washington on Air Force One soon after the funeral without any other talks having taken place.
The Ukrainian president’s office said there was no second meeting in Rome because of the tight schedule of both leaders, although he had separate discussions with Mr Starmer and Mr Macron.
The French president said in a post on X “Ukraine is ready for an unconditional ceasefire” and that a so-called coalition of the willing, led by the UK and France, would continue working to achieve a lasting peace.
There was applause from some of the other world leaders in attendance at the Vatican when Mr Zelenskyy walked out of St Peter’s Basilica after stopping in front of the pontiff’s coffin to pay his respects.
Donald Trump and the Ukrainian president met for the first time since their Oval Office row. Pic: Reuters
Sir Tony Brenton, the former British ambassador to Russia, said the event presents diplomatic opportunities, including the “biggest possible meeting” between Mr Trump and the Ukrainian leader.
He told Sky News it could mark “an important step” in starting the peace process between Russia and Ukraine.
Professor Father Francesco Giordano told Sky News the meeting is being called “Pope Francis’s miracle” by members of the clergy, adding: “There’s so many things that happened today – it was just overwhelming.”
The bilateral meeting comes after Mr Trump’s peace negotiator Steve Witkoff held talks with Mr Putin at the Kremlin.
They discussed “the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine”, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
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Russia and Ukraine have not held direct talks since the early weeks of the war, which began in February 2022.
Mr Trump has claimed a deal to end the war is “very close” and has urged Mr Zelenskyy to “get it done” in a post on his Truth Social platform.
He has previously warned both sides his administration would walk away from its efforts to achieve a peace if the two sides do not agree a deal soon.
Meanwhile, the Polish armed forces said a Russian military helicopter violated its airspace over the Baltic Sea on Friday evening.
“The nature of the incident indicates that Russia is testing the readiness of our air defence systems,” they said in a post on X.
On an extraordinary day, remarkable pictures on the margins that capture what may be a turning point for the world.
In a corner of St Peter’s Basilica before the funeral of Pope Francis, the leaders of America and Ukraine sit facing each other in two solitary chairs.
They look like confessor and sinner except we cannot tell which one is which.
Leaning forward hands together in their laps, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy stare at each other in one photo.
In another, the Ukrainian president seems to be remonstrating with the US president. This is their first encounter since their infamous bust-up in the Oval Office.
The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
Other pictures show the moment their French and British counterparts introduced the two men. There is a palpable sense of nervousness in the way the leaders engage.
We do not know what the two presidents said in their brief meeting.
But in the mind of the Ukrainian leader will be the knowledge President Trump has this week said America will reward Russia for its unprovoked brutal invasion of his country, under any peace deal.
Mr Trump has presented Ukraine and Russia with a proposal and ultimatum so one-sided it could have been written in the Kremlin.
Kyiv must surrender the land Russia has taken by force, Crimea forever, the rest at least for now. And it must submit to an act of extortion, a proposed deal that would hand over half its mineral wealth effectively to America.
The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Afterwards, Zelenskyy said it had been a good meeting that could turn out to be historic “if we reach results together”.
They had talked, he said, about the defence of Ukraine, a full and unconditional ceasefire and a durable and lasting peace that will prevent a war restarting.
The Trump peace proposal includes only unspecified security guarantees for Ukraine from countries that do not include the US. It rules out any membership of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s allies are watching closely to see if Mr Trump will apply any pressure on Vladimir Putin, let alone punish him for recent bloody attacks on Ukraine.
Or will he simply walk away if the proposal fails, blaming Ukrainian intransigence, however outrageously, before moving onto a rapprochement with Moscow.
If he does, America’s role as guarantor of international security will be seen effectively as over.
This could be the week we see the world order as we have known it since the end of the Second World War buried, as well as a pope.
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