Injured Ukrainian orphan Kira Obedinsky ‘wasn’t abducted’, Russian media says

There are fears for an injured Ukrainian orphan separated from her only family member after she appeared in a Russian video.

A 12-year-old Ukrainian girl orphaned by the war is now in Russian custody and being used as part of the invading nation’s information war.

Kira Obedinsky, who lost her father Yevhen after he was shot by Russian forces in Mariupol, now sits alone in a Russian-controlled hospital in eastern Ukraine.

Days after her father was killed, Kira and her father’s girlfriend tried to flee the bombed-out port city before being injured by a landmine. She was then taken to a hospital in the Donetsk region, which is controlled by Moscow-backed separatists.

Kira’s grandfather Oleksander said he has fears he will never see her again, as it is almost impossible for him to travel to Donetsk. He said an official from the region called him and told him his granddaughter would eventually be sent to an orphanage in Russia.

According to CNN, her documents have been taken away, with her grandfather saying she would be provided with new ones once arriving in Russia.

Recordings of the injured girl telling her grandfather “not to cry” have tugged at the heartstrings around the globe, but Russia has moved to squash rumours the child was “abducted”.

Russian state-backed media claimed a short video released of Kira talking through her ordeal was “proof” the invading force is treating civilians properly, and that the 12-year-old “wasn’t abducted”.

Kira Obedinsky was injured while fleeing Mariupol.

She now sits alone in a Donetsk hospital and is being used in Russian videos.

The Russian government has said it has helped relocate over 60,000 Ukrainian people to safety across the Russian border.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky previously accused Russia of forcing people fleeing Mariupol into Russia. Reports of “filtration camps” being set up have also been confirmed.

“Several thousand, tens of thousands, were forced to evacuate in the direction of the Russia Federation and we don‘t know where they are, they’ve left no document trail,” Zelensky said.

Ukrainian officials believe thousands of refugees have been “forcibly relocated” to Russia through separatist-controlled areas in the eastern regions of Ukraine. Military men have been reported checking various forms of identification of refugees, or as they describe them, “temporarily displaced people”.

According to a woman who witnessed the camps first-hand, officers were tasked with collecting their data before interrogations.

“They just walked into our shelter and said that women and children must leave it,” the woman said via the Washington Post.

Kira’s grandfather Oleksander said he has fears he will never see her again.

“We asked if it was possible to stay at all, and they said no, that this is the order. We did not know where they were taking us.

“At all stages of the journey, we were treated like captives or some criminals. I felt like a sack of potatoes tossed around. You have no will. How can you resist this? Even if you have a chance to escape, everything around is destroyed, and there is nowhere to hide.”

Earlier in March, Russia was criticised for setting up humanitarian corridors that lead directly across their border, sparking fears refugees would be subject to harsh treatment once inside the invading nation.

A volunteer working for the Helping to Leave Fund said Russian soldiers were urging civilians in Mariupol to leave with them as supplies dwindle in the city.

Ukrainian officials estimated around 300,000 civilians were held “hostage” in the city as shells ripped apart both commercial and residential buildings in the early stages of the invasion.

“We are receiving reports that Russian soldiers tell people who come out of the shelters that there is ‘absolutely no evacuation from Mariupol at all, this is your last chance, and so on’,” the volunteer said.

“People agree because they have nothing, no electricity, no food, no heat. So people suffering from hunger have to evacuate just somewhere.”