Six military vehicles surrounded the house. Armed men shouted at the children: “Hands up!” Behind the wall, their mother was being tortured.

11-year-old Danylo and 17-year-old Alina witnessed her kidnapping twice. They did not see their mother for a total of five months. In 2023, Russian military personnel stormed their home, interrogating Alina without an adult present, demanding confessions about her mother’s ties to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Meanwhile, Olha was being tortured in the next room: stabbed in the neck, her legs burned, suffocated, and subjected to a mock execution. Then — a bag over her head, handcuffs, and prison.

Five months of imprisonment: without proper food, enduring beatings, humiliations, and constant threats of a life sentence. She was forced to dig her “own” grave, made to kneel, and shot with a traumatic weapon. They told her that her family had been killed.

Meanwhile, at a Russian school, Alina was interrogated by FSB agents three times. They pressured the girl and threatened her with “the basement.” The family was declared “especially dangerous” due to their pro-Ukrainian position. For a year and a half, they remained in hiding, barely leaving their house.

The youngest, 5-month-old Yevhen, was born during this period of persecution. The mother risked being detained at checkpoints even on her way to the maternity ward.

The war stripped the children of their sense of safety. Danylo became anxious and withdrawn. Alina lived in constant fear of new interrogations. Their mother was left with scars all over her body and deep psychological trauma.

Today, the family is safe and undergoing comprehensive rehabilitation at the Hope and Healing Center. Psychologists are helping the children process their traumatic experiences and regain trust in the world. The mother is receiving medical and psychological support after the torture she endured. The children can study in a safe environment once again, without fear of interrogations or threats.

The family has received a safe haven, systematic psychological and medical support, and the children — a chance to gradually regain trust in the world as part of a project supported by Razom.