The story of Serhiyюi, whom our Save Ukraine team returned during the 8th rescue mission, is tragic and heroic at the same time. It seemed that everything was against the boy, and he would definitely never return to Ukraine. However, the will to life and freedom of a single Ukrainian child is much stronger than the desire of the entire Russian system to destroy the Ukrainian nation.

Serhii had no chance to escape deportation. He was raised in a foster family from the age of three. And when Veliky Burluk, in Kharkiv Oblast, was under occupation, he was 16 years old — a “suitable” age for the Russian Federation to have time to “prepare” him for the war against the Motherland. Russian soldiers quickly find out about such children in the settlements they occupy and quickly gain their trust.

Such a situation happened with Serhii. And then russian came to their home and forcibly took the boy’s documents from the adoptive parents. And Serhii was stopped in the middle of the street, dressed in a military uniform, and forced to go with them. The teenager in the occupation simply had no other way out.

At the age of 17, the boy ended up in a Valuy dormitory. During the day, he studied at the local technical school, and at night he unloaded wagons to feed himself in a foreign land. In his free time, he played for the local football team and was not afraid to express his pro-Ukrainian position. Because of this from time to time he entered into skirmishes and fights with the locals.

One night, Serhii dreamed of his deceased parents, who reminded him that his only relative remained in Ukraine – his sister. And he must return home to take care of her. Then the boy decided to go to Ukraine. He had collected money and tried three times to cross the border. But because he was a minor, the border guards kept turning him away. The adoptive parents, who were already in the de-occupied territory, but hadn’t had the financial capabilities to go to Russia for the boy, turned to Save Ukraine.

The moment of the return of our 8th mission coincided with the famous Russian rebellion when the Wagnerites were on their way to Moscow. There were traffic jams on the roads and it delayed us on the way. Serhii was harmed by the FSB at the border: they beat the guy on the legs, forced him to undress several times, spoke rudely, manipulated documents, and filmed all this on camera. He miraculously managed to escape from the clutches of the FSB officers, who were suddenly gathered precisely because of the Prigozhin rebellion.

In total, within the framework of 8 missions to Ukraine, our team managed to return 10 children, who were kidnapped by Russia last year. In total, Save Ukraine rescued 128 young Ukrainians from the Russian Federation.