The Save Ukraine team has returned five children from the occupied territory of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions to Ukraine. Three of them are orphans. There are already 295 rescued Ukrainian children who were under the influence of the Russian Federation.

Arsen and Ayder were forced to go to a Russian school so they would not be taken away from their grandmother and sent to an orphanage. But it was hard for the boys at the constant ‘conversations about important things’ where the teachers talked about how Ukraine ‘bombed Donbas for 8 years’ and that Russia is good, and Ukrainians do not exist. Military personnel taught pre-military training lessons at the school. They taught schoolchildren how to handle weapons and promoted enrollment in a military educational institution. Once, representatives of the military commissariat came to the school and issued summonses to the 16-year-old boys. Schoolchildren were agitated to sign a contract with the armed forces of the Russian Federation. And when it got warmer, they had promised to take the 11th-graders to practice in the fields. Arsen was about to turn 17 soon, so the grandmother decided not to waste any more time and save her grandchildren.

Dmytro lived with his grandfather and grandmother before the start of the full-scale war. Grandfather lost his leg at work and replaced it with a prosthesis. Therefore, after February 24, 2022, he almost did not leave the house and was constantly silent. The grandmother, who worked in a pharmacy, worried all the time due to the war. During these two years, her blood pressure increased significantly, and her body could not withstand it. A not-very-old woman died. Dmytro tells how the Russians liked to make fun of the boys: they took away the phone and then made them run in circles. They also mocked the teenagers when they were breathing hard. Also, the Russians constantly jammed the connection. They often called and asked: “How are you doing in Russia?”. This year, Dmytro is turning 17, and the boy didn’t want to have problems with the Russian Military Commissariat. Therefore, the family decided to leave.

For the Russian authorities, Ukrainian children are just a resource that is convenient to use in the war against Ukraine. Violating international law, the Russian Federation forces Ukrainians under occupation to refuse their Motherland and their national identity, forget their roots and become an instrument in the commission of war crimes. Fortunately, our team does not stop and, using all its capabilities, helps children escape from Russian influence.

We are very grateful to @weareallukrainians2022 and Charity fund “Humanity” and all our partners, without whom we could not save our children. Only our united cooperation allows us to change the lives of Ukrainian children for the good and give them a chance for a happy future.

P.S. The names of the characters have been changed for security reasons