Half a Life in Captivity:
The Story of Bohdan Kovalchuk, Abducted by Russia at 17

A teenager caught in the machinery of war

In 2015, in the occupied city of Yasynuvata in Donetsk region, the life of 17-year-old Bohdan Kovalchuk changed forever. He was trying to reach Ukrainian-controlled territory to finish school and receive his diploma. At a checkpoint, Russian forces detained him without explanation. Days later, militants of the self-proclaimed “DPR” announced they had arrested seven young men from Yasynuvata. They labeled them “saboteurs”, accusing them of working for the SBU and of bombing vehicles and a police building under occupation. Seven teenagers became hostages of propaganda and tools of war.

The sentence — and a refusal to betray his country

In 2018, Bohdan was sentenced to 10 years in a penal colony. He had just turned 20. A year later, the occupation administration offered him early release — but only on one condition: he must renounce participation in prisoner exchanges and never return to Ukraine. Bohdan refused. He chose integrity over coerced “freedom”.
“His family taught him honesty, resilience, and dignity. He is strong as steel,” his grandmother told journalists.

Years of silence and waiting

In the rare phone calls he was allowed, Bohdan never complained about the conditions. He only said one thing: “I’m fine. I’ll endure.”
Behind those words were years of pressure, isolation, and uncertainty. Bohdan was taken at 17 and returned home at 26.
For nine long years, his family waited for him.

Coming home at last

In 2025, Bohdan was finally included in a prisoner exchange as a civilian hostage. His story is one of many — a stark reminder of how war destroys young lives and turns ordinary teenagers into “enemies” in the eyes of an occupation regime.