{"id":1292,"date":"2026-06-07T15:38:43","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T15:38:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1292"},"modified":"2026-06-07T15:38:43","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T15:38:43","slug":"ukrainian-mothers-fight-to-free-children-from-russians-depicted-in-new-opera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1292","title":{"rendered":"Ukrainian mothers&#8217; fight to free children from Russians depicted in new opera"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>Summary<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>KYIV, June 7 (Reuters) &#8211; An opera by a Ukrainian composer that premiered in Kyiv this week tells the story of two \u200bmothers and a grandmother who risked their lives to travel 3,000 miles (4,800 km) to occupied Crimea to rescue children abducted by Russian forces.<\/div>\n<div>&#8220;Mothers of \u200cKherson&#8221;, co-commissioned by New York&#8217;s Metropolitan Opera, is based on the true stories of women who left the city in southern Ukraine after it was liberated in November 2022 to bring their children home.<\/div>\n<div>They skirted around the 750-mile front line via Poland, Belarus and Russia to reach the camp in Crimea where their children were being held.<\/div>\n<div>Ukraine says it has confirmed the abduction by Russia of around 20,000 children during \u200bthe four-year-old war. In March, a U.N. commission concluded the deportation and enforced disappearance of Ukrainian children by Russia was a crime against humanity.<\/div>\n<div>The Kremlin denies this \u200band says it evacuated Ukrainian children for their own safety.<\/div>\n<div>So far, only 1,343 children have been returned home, according to Save Ukraine<svg><\/svg><span>, opens new tab<\/span>, a \u2060charity that helps to organize the rescues.<\/div>\n<div>Peter Gelb, general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, said he hoped that bearing witness in art to the war crimes committed by Russia \u200bwould help to raise awareness of them and leave a lasting record.<\/div>\n<div>&#8220;It&#8217;s just an incredibly emotional story that these mothers would basically sacrifice everything, including their lives if necessary, to \u200bget their children back,&#8221; said Gelb, 73. Setting their story to music in opera heightened its intensity, he said.<\/div>\n<div>&#8220;It has the capability of doing something that watching the news can&#8217;t possibly do, or reading a newspaper, which is to elevate our souls,&#8221; he said.<\/div>\n<div>Yulia Radzevilova, who attended the premiere at Kyiv&#8217;s 19th-century national opera house, was one of the mothers who inspired the work by Ukrainian composer Maxim \u200bKolomiiets. She was one of the lucky ones and returned home just over three years ago with her son Maxim, now 16.<\/div>\n<div>&#8220;The journey was very difficult and long,&#8221; said \u200bthe 39-year-old. Seeing her story on stage reduced her to tears, she said: &#8220;I was transported back to those times and emotions. It sounds so beautiful.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div>A teacher had organized what was presented as a \u200ctwo-week trip \u2060to Crimea in October 2022 for children to &#8220;rest&#8221; from the war, but Maxim was kept there for four months. When Yulia asked for him to be sent home, she was told to come to get him herself.<\/div>\n<div>Maxim, who was 12 at the time, said the camp &#8211; where children were forbidden to speak Ukrainian, subjected to corporal punishment, and had to exercise every morning to the Russian national anthem &#8211; felt like a &#8220;prison&#8221;.<\/div>\n<div>He recalled calling his mother in tears on Telegram: &#8220;I wanted to go home. When I saw my mother, I was so \u200bhappy.&#8221;<\/div>\n<h2>A &#8216;MOMENT OF HEALING&#8217;<\/h2>\n<div>Thursday&#8217;s performance, held on Ukraine&#8217;s \u200bremembrance day for children killed in the \u2060conflict, showed excerpts from the work, which is still being completed. It will receive a full staging at the Polish National Opera in October, before a premiere at the Met in April 2028.<\/div>\n<div>Mykola Kuleba, founder of Save Ukraine, said he was surprised when Gelb \u200bhad written to him after the rescues in 2023. They met in Washington to discuss the project.<\/div>\n<div>&#8220;An opera about kidnapped children \u2013 I&#8217;d \u200bnever heard of such \u2060a thing,&#8221; said Kuleba. Listening to the &#8220;magical music&#8221; at the premiere was a &#8220;moment of healing&#8221; at a time when Kyiv was suffering regular air raids, he said.<\/div>\n<div>Save Ukraine is still finding new cases of abducted children, whose parents were often killed, arrested or disappeared. Rescued children described being forbidden contact with Ukrainian culture and were taught that the West was their enemy, Kuleba \u2060said.<\/div>\n<div>&#8220;We will \u200bnot stop. We&#8217;ll continue our rescue missions,&#8221; he said.<\/div>\n<div>Keri-Lynn Wilson, who conducted the premiere, founded the Ukrainian Freedom \u200bOrchestra following the Russian invasion in an effort to showcase Ukraine&#8217;s artistic talent internationally. A Canadian with Ukrainian roots, she said the opera would raise awareness of Ukraine&#8217;s suffering and resilience.<\/div>\n<div>&#8220;Ukrainian culture and music are vital and \u200balive and you can&#8217;t silence it,&#8221; said Wilson, who is married to Gelb.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1290\">More sanctions could be imposed on Israeli settlers in \u2018coming days\u2019, France says<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1289\">Israeli military strikes Hezbollah in Beirut\u2019s Dahiyeh<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1288\">Israel kills five in Gaza as Egypt hosts new ceasefire talks<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Mothers of \u200cKherson&#8221; is based on the true stories of women who skirted around the 750-mile front line via Poland, Belarus and Russia to reach the camp in Crimea where their children were being held and to bring them home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1291,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12],"class_list":["post-1292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-human-rights"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ukrainian mothers&#039; fight to free children from Russians depicted in new opera - Reliable Moving Crews<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1292\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ukrainian mothers&#039; fight to free children from Russians depicted in new opera - Reliable Moving Crews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&quot;Mothers of \u200cKherson&quot; is based on the true stories of women who skirted around the 750-mile front line via Poland, Belarus and Russia to reach the camp in Crimea where their children were being held and to bring them home.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1292\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Reliable Moving Crews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-07T15:38:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reliablemovingcrews.com\\\/?p=1292#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reliablemovingcrews.com\\\/?p=1292\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reliablemovingcrews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/34f02a869ba60b78ae3d994f205e0d24\"},\"headline\":\"Ukrainian mothers&#8217; fight to free children from Russians depicted in new opera\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-07T15:38:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reliablemovingcrews.com\\\/?p=1292\"},\"wordCount\":750,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reliablemovingcrews.com\\\/?p=1292#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reliablemovingcrews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/87db7352d94911df4c61fe60a84cf901.avif\",\"keywords\":[\"Human Rights\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/reliablemovingcrews.com\\\/?p=1292#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reliablemovingcrews.com\\\/?p=1292\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reliablemovingcrews.com\\\/?p=1292\",\"name\":\"Ukrainian mothers' fight to free children from Russians depicted in new opera - Reliable Moving Crews\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reliablemovingcrews.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reliablemovingcrews.com\\\/?p=1292#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reliablemovingcrews.com\\\/?p=1292#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reliablemovingcrews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/87db7352d94911df4c61fe60a84cf901.avif\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-07T15:38:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reliablemovingcrews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/34f02a869ba60b78ae3d994f205e0d24\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reliablemovingcrews.com\\\/?p=1292#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/reliablemovingcrews.com\\\/?p=1292\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reliablemovingcrews.com\\\/?p=1292#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reliablemovingcrews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/87db7352d94911df4c61fe60a84cf901.avif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reliablemovingcrews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/87db7352d94911df4c61fe60a84cf901.avif\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1005},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reliablemovingcrews.com\\\/?p=1292#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reliablemovingcrews.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ukrainian mothers&#8217; fight to free children from Russians depicted in new opera\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reliablemovingcrews.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reliablemovingcrews.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Reliable Moving Crews\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reliablemovingcrews.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reliablemovingcrews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/34f02a869ba60b78ae3d994f205e0d24\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/reliablemovingcrews.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reliablemovingcrews.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ukrainian mothers' fight to free children from Russians depicted in new opera - Reliable Moving Crews","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1292","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ukrainian mothers' fight to free children from Russians depicted in new opera - Reliable Moving Crews","og_description":"\"Mothers of \u200cKherson\" is based on the true stories of women who skirted around the 750-mile front line via Poland, Belarus and Russia to reach the camp in Crimea where their children were being held and to bring them home.","og_url":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1292","og_site_name":"Reliable Moving Crews","article_published_time":"2026-06-07T15:38:43+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1292#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1292"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/34f02a869ba60b78ae3d994f205e0d24"},"headline":"Ukrainian mothers&#8217; fight to free children from Russians depicted in new opera","datePublished":"2026-06-07T15:38:43+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1292"},"wordCount":750,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1292#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/87db7352d94911df4c61fe60a84cf901.avif","keywords":["Human Rights"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1292#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1292","url":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1292","name":"Ukrainian mothers' fight to free children from Russians depicted in new opera - Reliable Moving Crews","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1292#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1292#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/87db7352d94911df4c61fe60a84cf901.avif","datePublished":"2026-06-07T15:38:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/34f02a869ba60b78ae3d994f205e0d24"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1292#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1292"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1292#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/87db7352d94911df4c61fe60a84cf901.avif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/87db7352d94911df4c61fe60a84cf901.avif","width":1920,"height":1005},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1292#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ukrainian mothers&#8217; fight to free children from Russians depicted in new opera"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/","name":"Reliable Moving Crews","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/34f02a869ba60b78ae3d994f205e0d24","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com"],"url":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}