Mark, a 13-year-old boy from occupied Torez, was only 9 when Russian forces detained his mother and falsely accused her of espionage. She spent two years in captivity without trial, threatened that her sons would be taken to orphanages if she didn’t confess. At school, Mark was forced to sing the Russian anthem and listen to propaganda. Ukrainian language and symbols were banned. Mark and his older brother were rescued as part of the President’s Bring Kids Back UA initiative after a difficult evacuation through Russia and several other countries.