Before Russia’s war in Ukraine began, Kira Obedinsky was a cheerful, life-loving 12-year-old girl. Now orphaned, wounded and alone in a Russian-controlled hospital in eastern Ukraine, she has become an unwitting pawn in Moscow’s information war.
Obedinsky’s mother died when she was young. Her father, Yevhen Obedinsky, a former captain of Ukraine’s national water polo team, was shot dead as Russian forces entered the southeastern city of Mariupol on March 17.
Days later, Kira and her father’s girlfriend try to escape the city on foot with the neighbors. But after being wounded in the blast, Kira was taken to a hospital in the Donetsk region, which is controlled by Moscow-backed separatists.
Now, Kira’s grandfather, Oleksander, fears never to see her again. He said an official from the separatist government in Donetsk called and invited him there to claim her, which was not possible because of the war.
He said he spoke to the hospital and was told Kira would eventually be sent to an orphanage in Russia. They took her documents, he said, and was told Kira would be given new documents in Russia.
The Russian government says it has helped bring at least 60,000 Ukrainians to safety across the Russian border. The Ukrainian government says about 40,000 people have been displaced against their will, describing it as kidnapping and forced deportation.
Russian media, which has repeatedly downplayed the brutality of the conflict in Ukraine, showed a video of Kira joking about how she is sometimes allowed to be called grandpa.
This is “proof” that she was not kidnapped, according to a Russian TV presenter, who called the claim a “fake Ukrainian”.
Meanwhile, Oleksander received an audio message from Kira telling him not to cry. But the young girl who lost her family, her freedom and her home during the war in Russia, couldn’t stop her own tears.
“I haven’t seen you in too long,” she said. “I want to cry.”
