Donbass. Genocide. 2014-2022

Together Again: Families Separated by Conflict in Donbass Finally Reunite

When the conflict in Donbass broke out back in 2014 following the Euromaidan coup in Ukraine, many families wound up being separated, as the region essentially ended up being divided into the Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics and areas controlled and occupied by Kiev’s forces.
Sputnik
Now, with Russia’s ongoing military operation in Ukraine witnessing the forces of the Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics regaining control over towns and cities that were seized by Ukrainian troops at the early stages of the conflict, relatives who were unable to see each other for years have finally managed to meet.
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Alexander Polkovnikov and Vera Polkovnikova bid farewell to their daughter Tatiana in the village of Bolotennoye in the Lugansk People's Republic. Tatiana was able to meet her parents for the first time in eight years after Lugansk People's Republic forces established control over the village.

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Nikita, the son of Elena and Maksim Goldenko from Mariupol, meets his aunt Elena in the city of Yenakievo in the Donetsk People's Republic.

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Andrei Andreevich Vorontsov and his wife Nadezhda Iosipovna play with their great-granddaughter Lilia in Donetsk. Andrei Vorontsov hadn't seen his relatives for several years.

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Andrei Andreevich Vorontsov (L), his son Andrei Andreevich Vorontsov (R), and grandson Andrei Andreevich Vorontsov (C) meet in Donetsk.

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Alexander Ogirin, ataman of Stanitsa Kirovskaya, meets his mother for the first time in eight years, in the liberated village of Muratovo. Alexander sustained an injury during his service in the Lugansk People's Republic's militia.

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Pavel Chuprina, a resident of Donetsk who was born in Mariupol, with his mother Irina in a residential building in Mariupol.

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Larisa Kovalenko, who was born in Mariupol and who lived in Sevastopol and Moscow for the last eight years, meets her mother Elena, a resident of Mariupol who was evacuated to Donetsk. They haven't seen each other for three years.

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Father Alexei Khrabrov, prior of the St. Nicholas Church in Stanitsa Luganskaya, meets his mother Elena and grandmother Galina, whom he hasn't seen for four years, in the town of Rovenki.

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Olga Glushchenko, resident of the village of Ganusovka in the Lugansk People's Republic, bids farewell to her son Yuri, who lives in the city of Lugansk. After the village was liberated by forces of Lugansk People's Republic, Yuri was able to meet his mother for the first time in eight years.

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Sophia smells flowers given to her by her maternal grandmother Lydia, in the village of Olhovoye in the Lugansk People's Republic. Sophia, her mother Irina, and father Artyom haven't seen Irina's mother Lydia since 2015.

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Victor Alexandrovich holds his grandson Samson in Stanitsa Luganskaya in the Lugansk People's Republic.

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Lydia Petrovna bids farewell to her daughter Irina in the village of Olhovoye in Lugansk People's Republic.

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