Anton Kharchenko is a civilian resident of Vasylivka, Zaporizhia. He was in Poland before the start of the Great War, but returned home on February 26, 2022. He wanted to be close to his loved ones.
When Vasylivka began to be shelled, Anton decided to go to his sister in neighboring Mykhailivka. There was no transport - he walked. The last time he was in touch was on March 8. From that moment on, there was silence.
“We called him all day. And then we realized: this is no longer just a communication problem. This is a disappearance,” recalls his sister Yesenia.
They began to search on their own. A few months later, the girl accidentally found a photo of her brother in the Russian Telegram channel “Recognize a Khokhloma by His Forelock.”
“I recognized him right away. He is standing with a machine gun. But my brother has never served, he is calm, he has not even gotten into a fight. They are simply forced to be filmed with that weapon - to show him as a “military man”,” she says.
In 2023, a Ukrainian discharged soldier told his family: Anton was in the cell with him - alive, uninjured, holding on. He was held in the Rostov region. Then he was transferred to another place.
“A man answered me from Anton's phone once. He said that he "bought this phone with a card". There was indifference in his voice. As if it was not about a person, but about a thing,” recalls Yesenia.
The family contacted the police, the Coordination Headquarters, and the Red Cross. The International Committee confirmed: Anton is being illegally held in Russian captivity. But no one knows where exactly.

Documentation is carried out with the support of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC). The views and conclusions expressed in this publication belong solely to the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the NHC.

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