A story from a Save Ukraine recovery center · Identifying details changed to protect family still under occupation

My name is Andriy. That is not my real name — I cannot tell you my real one, because my family is still in danger. But I can tell you what happened to us.

I am eight years old. My big brother is fourteen. We lived in a small village in the south of Ukraine where everyone grew vegetables in their gardens. My dad welded metal. My mom worked at the shop. My brother liked geography and Lego; I liked running around. My mom said I was just like her when she was little.

Then one winter evening, my mom did not come home from work the way she usually did.

A russian drone followed her near our house. It flew past, turned around, came back, and dove. It exploded two meters from her. The right side of her face, her arm, her leg — all of it was hurt. My dad pulled a piece of metal out from next to her eye with his own hands. There was no MRI in our village. There were only my dad’s hands and my mom trying not to cry in front of us.

After that, mom jumped at every sound. Even a water bottle being put on the table. Before any of us went outside, we would crack open the door and listen, all of us together, until we were sure it was quiet.

Then the russians came for her.

They put a hat over her head so she could not see, and they drove her somewhere. Four men in regular clothes asked her questions for a long time. They kept saying the same thing, over and over: “You want to see your children, don’t you? Then talk. Confess.” They took her Ukrainian passport away. They told her, “You live in russia now. You don’t need this.”

My mom told me later that during those hours, she was only thinking one thing: please, just let me come home to my boys.

She came home.

A girl from our village did not. She was twenty-one. They sent her to prison for eighteen years.

After that, my mom said we could not stay anymore. She reached out to Save Ukraine, and they helped her build a way out. She got everything ready in secret. Not even my grandmother knew. We left at night. At the first russian checkpoint, they kept my mom for almost an hour. But they let us through. My dad stayed behind for now. He will come later. We are waiting for him.

I am at a Save Ukraine center near Kyiv now. There is a kind woman who sits with us while we draw and never tells us we are doing it wrong. There are other kids here. I made a friend on the very first day. We run around outside until we are out of breath, and no one tells us to come back inside and be quiet.

My big brother says he can finally breathe. He sits with my mom in the evenings now and makes her laugh. I had not heard my mom laugh in a very long time.

I drew this because I am safe. Because my mom came home. Because we got out.

Thank you for bringing us home. And please — thousands of children like us are still waiting to be rescued.

— Andriy, 8

At a Save Ukraine recovery center near Kyiv, children — recently rescued from russian occupation — sat down with paints and brushes. Art therapy is part of how they begin to heal here: to put down on paper what they could not say out loud for years. They made these drawings for our friends in the USA — to thank you for standing with Ukraine, and to remind the world that thousands of Ukrainian children are still waiting to come home.

Save Ukraine has brought thousands of children home from russian occupation, and we walk with them through the years of healing that follow. Thousands more are still waiting.

Learn more about our work and support the rescue at saveukraineua.org

Help us bring the next child home.