1,341 Rescue Ukraine’s Stolen Children

children already rescued
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Find out
in 1 minute
what we do
Find out
in 1 minute
what we do
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More than
19,546
Ukrainian children have been identified as stolen

Save Ukraine is the only public organization in Ukraine that regularly organizes and successfully conducts rescue missions to return Ukrainian children.

Children rescued: 1026 children
Our goal: 19,546 children
Help Bring Them Home

Phases of the Rescue Program*

It takes over a month to prepare a single rescue mission. Each mission is carefully executed under high-risk conditions to return children separated from their families. Save Ukraine then supports their healing through trauma-informed care, therapy, and restoration programs.

1
Identification

We work with families, communities, and partners to find and confirm the identities of stolen children

Data about abducted children is located in various sources: Ukrainian government ministries, schools, orphanages and European authorities. Save Ukraine focuses on bringing together cases from various sources to encourage collaboration and efficient resource utilization. Save Ukraine works diligently to search and accurately identify children through rigorous fact-checking, with Ukrainian authorities corroborating data to increase reliability.
2
Outreach and Verification

We raise awareness in occupied areas and verify information to ensure safe operations

These missions are complicated and confidential due to their sensitive nature. They involve careful planning, preparation of the caregiver's documents, and legal and psychological support to the caregiver's prior to their journey.
3
Rescue Operations

We carry out complex missions to return children from Russia and occupied territories

Save Ukraine meticulously documents the war crime of deportation with all of the details for the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Cases are also filed to local courts and it requires up to 3 teams of lawyers to properly file a single abduction as a war crime in various jurisdictions.
4
Healing and Reintegration

We support children’s full recovery through therapy, legal care, and family reunification

Save Ukraine's goal is to restore the full-fledged life of children rescued from russian deportation and their families. Returned children and their families participate in a 6-month rehabilitation program that provides the necessary psychological, social and humanitarian support to restore these families to well-being and integrate into Ukrainian society. Save Ukraine's goal is to restore the full-fledged life of children rescued from russian deportation and their families. Returned children and their families participate in a 6-month rehabilitation program that provides the necessary psychological, social and humanitarian support to restore these families to well-being and integrate into Ukrainian society.
Help Save More Children

*Some information is withheld for security reasons

  • 1
    Identification

    We work with families, communities, and partners to find and confirm the identities of stolen children

    Data about abducted children is located in various sources: Ukrainian government ministries, schools, orphanages and European authorities. Save Ukraine focuses on bringing together cases from various sources to encourage collaboration and efficient resource utilization. Save Ukraine works diligently to search and accurately identify children through rigorous fact-checking, with Ukrainian authorities corroborating data to increase reliability.
  • 2
    Outreach and Verification

    We raise awareness in occupied areas and verify information to ensure safe operations

    These missions are complicated and confidential due to their sensitive nature. They involve careful planning, preparation of the caregiver's documents, and legal and psychological support to the caregiver's prior to their journey.
  • 3
    Rescue Operations

    We carry out complex missions to return children from Russia and occupied territories

    Save Ukraine meticulously documents the war crime of deportation with all of the details for the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Cases are also filed to local courts and it requires up to 3 teams of lawyers to properly file a single abduction as a war crime in various jurisdictions.
  • 4
    Healing and Reintegration

    We support children’s full recovery through therapy, legal care, and family reunification

    Save Ukraine's goal is to restore the full-fledged life of children rescued from russian deportation and their families. Returned children and their families participate in a 6-month rehabilitation program that provides the necessary psychological, social and humanitarian support to restore these families to well-being and integrate into Ukrainian society. Save Ukraine's goal is to restore the full-fledged life of children rescued from russian deportation and their families. Returned children and their families participate in a 6-month rehabilitation program that provides the necessary psychological, social and humanitarian support to restore these families to well-being and integrate into Ukrainian society.

Save Ukraine in the news

SHOW MORE
  • Ukrainian mothers' fight to free children from Russians depicted in new opera
    More
    07.06.3036
  • Save Ukraine rescues 1,169 traumatized, kidnapped children from Russian occupation
    More
    04.03.2026
  • Inside the ‘underground railroad’ Ukraine is using to bring back children from Russia
    More
    22.03.2026
  • Never Forget, Putin's War Is on Ukraine's Children Also
    More
    20.03.2026
  • The 'underground railroad': Saving Ukraine’s children from Russia
    More
    24.01.2026
  • Shooting, digging trenches, searching for human remains. How Russia is turning Ukrainian children into an “army”
    More
    03.11.2025
  • The efforts to return tens of thousands of abducted Ukrainian children from Russia
    More
    26.08.2025
  • On GPS: A Ukrainian teen's escape after Russian kidnapping
    More
    20.07.2025
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Stories of Stolen Children
Vitaliy’s story

Vitaliy never thought he would end up in a place like this. He was just a normal kid from Berislav, a small city in the Kherson region of Ukraine. He liked to play soccer with his friends, watch cartoons on TV, and dream of becoming a pilot someday. He had no idea that his life would change so drastically on October 7, 2022.

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Lilia and Artem's story

The spring of 2022 in her native Mariupol was a living hell for Lili. Russians shot her stepfather in the head, who was volunteering in the city at the time and helping to bury neighbors right next to their doorsteps. He was buried next to the one he had buried before. Then her great-grandmother was almost killed by a Russian air bomb, and she was wounded in the leg. There was no one and nothing to treat the injury, so everything healed as it was. Lilya walked with a swollen leg and pain.

Learn more
Vsevolod's story

Russian social services took 9-year-old Vsevolod away from his parents and took him to one of the children's institutions in Melitopol. Here, he was kept alone in a closed room for a long time, and later was forced to wear Russian camouflage and ordered to learn Russian.

Learn more

Our partners

We have become a unifying force, seamlessly coordinating the work of various organizations, volunteers and businesses. This section showcases the valuable partnerships that help us facilitate important services such as evacuation, shelter and humanitarian aid for children and others affected by war.

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Thousands of children are still out there

Be the reason one makes it home

Help Bring More Children Home

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