Last week, the Save Ukraine team rescued 9 Ukrainian children and teenagers from Russian occupation. This mission was made possible thanks to the support of Wladimir Klitschko, Tatjana Kiel from WeAreAllUkrainians, Humanity Foundation, and the Joint Coordination Center for Search and Release. These children endured years of intimidation and attempts to erase their national identity, but today, they are finally safe.

Among those rescued:

🔹 13-year-old Nastya and 11-year-old Alina, whose home was repeatedly raided by Russian soldiers. The occupiers ransacked their belongings, searching through laundry and looking under beds, in the stove, and even the refrigerator. On one occasion, while the sisters were passing through a checkpoint with their father, an armed and intoxicated occupier tossed a grenade into their trunk, saying, “This is a gift for you.”

🔹 17-year-old Ivan, who was abducted by the occupying forces three times and held in a basement for two weeks during each detention. While there, he was denied food, beaten, and abused because the occupiers refused to believe he was ill, accusing him of “faking it.”

🔹 19-year-old Stas, who was forcibly taken to Russia as a teenager along with his younger sister and parents. The family was held in a filtration camp, where they were interrogated and intimidated before being forced to accept Russian passports and filmed swearing an oath of allegiance to Putin. Even after returning home, Stas was detained by the FSB over a comment on his phone and sent to a basement cell.

All rescued children are currently staying at Save Ukraine’s Hope and Healing Centers, where they receive psychological support, assistance with documentation, housing, and care—everything they need to recover from the horrors of war and begin dreaming again.

Thanks to Save Ukraine, more than 1,000 children have already been brought back from occupation. Yet thousands more are still waiting for their path home.