8 Ukrainian children and teenagers have been rescued from temporarily occupied territories by the Save Ukraine team. We are deeply grateful to Wolodymyr Klitschko, Tatjana Kiel from WeAreAllUkrainians, Humanity Foundation, Helping to Leave, and the Joint Center for the Coordination of Search and Release for making this mission possible.

These children endured fear, pressure, and humiliation — but today, they are finally safe. They can once again be children, breathe freely, and feel love around them.

Among those rescued:

🔹 1.5-year-old Yaroslav was almost taken from his mother at a checkpoint. FSB officers found a contact with a Ukrainian serviceman in her phone and threatened to separate her from her child. Earlier, at the start of the invasion, Russians disguised their deportation as an “evacuation,” taking Myroslava and her family to a hangar where they were forced to apply for Russian documents.

🔹 17-year-old Polina, deprived of parental care, witnessed brutal beatings and interrogations during the occupation. She was living with her boyfriend when Russian soldiers burst into their home — everyone was forced to the floor and interrogated.

🔹 16-year-old Zlata and 13-year-old Yeva endured occupation and bullying at a Russian school because they couldn’t speak Russian. Yeva rebelled, while Zlata withdrew into herself. Before leaving, the occupiers forcibly enlisted Yeva into the so-called “Movement of the First.” The family faced even greater hardship: Yeva and Zlata’s two brothers were sent by their mother to Ukrainian-controlled territory, while another daughter and her baby were “evacuated” to Russia, where she was later placed in a psychiatric hospital.

🔹 10-year-old Matvii’s mother openly supported the occupiers, leaving him with his father — who refused Russian documents and continued to teach his son under the Ukrainian curriculum. To protect Matvii from being forced into a Russian school, his father hid him at home for years, not even allowing him to go outside. When Russian soldiers entered their yard, the boy would pretend to be asleep so they wouldn’t find him.

Today, all the rescued children are safe.

At Save Ukraine’s Hope and Healing centers, they receive psychological care, help with restoring documents, shelter, and compassion — everything they need to feel like children again.

Thanks to Save Ukraine, more than 900 children have already been rescued from Russia and the temporarily occupied territories. But thousands are still waiting to be saved.