“When I finally found my younger brother nine months later, he was already saying that there were ‘Nazis’ in Ukraine and that nobody needed him there. That’s what his Russian foster family taught him,” says 21-year-old Kseniia Koldin.

“My parents yelled at me and called me a traitor when they found out I had returned to Ukraine,” shares Ivan Sarancha.

The stories of Kseniia and Ivan are just two among hundreds of rescue cases carried out by the Save Ukraine team. Together with our representatives Kseniia Kolotiuk and Alina Dmytrenko, they traveled to Budapest at the invitation of the Embassy of Ukraine in Hungary (Ukrajna Magyarországi Nagykövetsége / Embassy of Ukraine in Hungary). During the visit, they took part in a special screening of the documentary “Shattered Childhood” followed by an open discussion. They also met with the Mayor of Budapest, Karácsony Gergely, and the Ukrainian representative in the Hungarian Parliament, Grexa Liliána.

Throughout these meetings, Kseniia and Ivan shared their personal experiences of war, deportation, life under occupation, and what it meant to finally return home.

The Save Ukraine team highlighted the large-scale abduction of Ukrainian children, Russia’s attempts to erase their identity, and the systematic militarization of minors on Russian territory. More than 1,000 children have already been brought home from occupation, but thousands more are still waiting for rescue — living in uncertainty, cut off from their families, and with no safe way to return. Russia deliberately blocks access to information, making it extremely difficult to locate these children and organize their evacuation.

In Hungary, many people genuinely support Ukraine and refuse to stay indifferent to the plight of abducted Ukrainian children. It is for them — and for the boys and girls who are still waiting to be saved — that we continue speaking out and drawing global attention to this issue.

We sincerely thank our partners for supporting our mission, for their solidarity, and for helping spread the truth about the scale of Russia’s crimes. The fight for every child continues.