A Ukrainian woman from Odesa has spent more than five years fighting to bring her eight-year-old grandson back from Russia. But when Liubov Rozhanska traveled to Kazakhstan for a long-awaited reunion with the boy, she was detained at the request of Russian authorities. Instead of embracing her grandson, she spent 72 hours in a detention center in Astana.
Rozhanska shared her story in an exclusive interview with the Vot Tak.
Her grandson, Robert, was born in Odesa in 2018. However, in 2021, his mother, Alla, took him to Kaliningrad, Russia. According to his grandmother, Alla had promised to return home, but at some point, communication with her stopped.
Since then, Rozhanska has been fighting to bring the boy back to Ukraine. The family took the case to a Ukrainian court, which ruled that Robert was a Ukrainian citizen and should reside in Ukraine. Despite the ruling, the family has been unable to secure his return.
“When the war began, I wrote to them: at least let me see him. They replied that he was fine and that I would no longer be allowed to speak to him,” Rozhanska recalled.
According to her, even maintaining telephone contact with her grandson became a legal battle. The family pursued the matter through courts in Kaliningrad, but was granted permission to communicate with the boy for only two weeks a year, exclusively within the city.
One explanation for why Robert supposedly could not speak to his Ukrainian relatives over the phone was particularly painful for his grandmother.
“Talking on the phone is impossible because there might be a Ukrainian flag in the background. And that would be very bad,” she said, describing the position of the other side.
Rozhanska also revealed that one brief phone call cost the family $1,000. The conversation lasted just 10 to 15 minutes.
During a period of contact in 2023, however, the boy said something his grandmother would never forget.
“I don’t want bombs to fall on my Odesa,” she recalled him saying.
After lengthy legal disputes, Rozhanska was contacted by the father-in-law of Robert’s mother. According to the Ukrainian woman, he agreed to arrange the boy’s return to Odesa and proposed Kazakhstan as the meeting place.
Rozhanska was willing to cover the travel expenses and even suggested arranging the meeting in Turkey, Montenegro, or Dubai. However, the other side insisted on Astana.
Hoping to finally reunite with her grandson, she traveled to Kazakhstan. But upon arriving at the airport, she was detained.
It emerged that Russian authorities had opened a criminal case against her over an alleged attempt to abduct the child and had placed her on a wanted list. Rozhanska said she had been completely unaware of the proceedings.
“It was a provocation. Knowing that nothing would stop me, they obtained a court ruling on September 27, three days before I arrived,” she said.
Rozhanska suspects that the current father-in-law of Robert’s mother may have been involved in arranging her detention. According to her, the man previously worked for Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).
Her release was secured following intervention by Ukrainian authorities, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the country’s Ombudsman’s Office.
After spending 72 hours in detention, Rozhanska was allowed to leave Kazakhstan and return to Odesa.
“Perhaps I was afraid they might extradite me, but I couldn’t believe it would actually happen,” she admitted.
Her lawyer believes the prosecution may be politically motivated and connected to Russia’s war against Ukraine. He described her detention in Astana as an operation carried out by Russian intelligence services.
Despite the ordeal, Rozhanska has no intention of abandoning her fight to bring Robert home.
She hopes that one day the boy will be able to discover the truth about what happened and understand that his family in Ukraine never gave up on him.
“We want to make this information available so that he can find it and know that we haven’t abandoned him. That we’re doing everything possible to bring him back,” she explained.
Rozhanska also emphasized her strong pro-Ukrainian position, saying that many of her friends and relatives actively support the Ukrainian military.
“All my friends behave just as I do. They do everything they can to stand with Ukraine and to be able to call themselves Ukrainians,” she said.
For Rozhanska, the goal remains unchanged: to bring eight-year-old Robert back to Odesa, where his family is still waiting for him.
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