The Guardian Follows Ukrainian Children Placed in the Italian Alps

The Guardian reported this week on Ukrainian children who were evacuated from state care after Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, and who now say they do not want to go home. Kyiv wants them back, according to the paper, but many of the children resist.

The report opens in a small village in the Italian Alps, where a 15-year-old identified only as Denys arrived in March 2022 after an overnight bus journey. He told the Guardian he felt homesick and confused at first, and that his future, in his own words, lies in the EU.

The Guardian frames the story as a tug of war over children who were already in state custody before the war, and whose placement abroad has since become a question of national policy for Ukraine rather than a matter of private fostering.