Great news: eight more children and their families finally arrived in Ukraine. Among them are children aged 7 to 17 from the occupied part of Kherson and Donetsk regions. In total, our team has managed to save 405 children from Russia and the temporarily occupied territories.

For Serhii, one of the returned teenagers, this was already the second attempt to leave the occupation. The Russian police stopped him at the border, detained him, and threatened to send him to prison. During the interrogation, they accused the boy of lying to them and promised to bring a psychic to hypnotize him and tell him everything.

Olena, the mother of two children, also had to experience abuse and searches at home. Her one daughter has a severe congenital disease. The woman spoke with horror about how the Russians beat her until she lost consciousness. Then, they ordered her not to tell anyone that she was in pain.

Another rescued teenager, Taras, said that he bought a Russian SIM card to communicate in his occupied hometown. As soon as the young man activated the number, he immediately received a message that he could come and get a job in the Russian service under a contract. It didn’t matter that the owner of the SIM card was a minor and still too young to be drafted.

The rescued 14-year-old Myroslava told how a Russian serviceman at the border threatened her with a gun to go to the interrogation. Today, the girl is happy that she is safe: “I was so happy when we crossed the border, and we were finally in Ukraine. I feel very well now. There they intimidate and beat, but here is a free country.”

We are sincerely grateful to our partners WeAreAllUkrainians and CF Humanity for the enormous help provided in saving every child. Now, children and adults are safe. A long process of recovery and reconstruction of their lives in new conditions is ahead of them.