17-year-old Elizaveta studied at a college in Kherson and lived in a dormitory. It was in September 2022. After a week of training, the director told the children they were going on vacation to Crimea. If anyone decides to refuse, they will put them in the basement. On the same day, late in the evening, everyone packed their things, and the next day at midnight, they arrived in the Crimea to the camp.

There were terrible conditions and food. Children were forced to learn and sing the Russian national anthem and other Russian songs.

Once, the Ukrainian children were gathered together by a man called Astakhov, a supervisor in the camp, who said they would be in the camp until the end of the summer. He said that parents do not need Ukrainian children, and they will not come for them. Lisa said that he called them “ukrops”. This is a humiliating word invented by Russians to insult Ukrainians.

Liza said they were not allowed to listen to Ukrainian songs; no one could say anything in Ukrainian. It was impossible to talk about Ukraine; caregivers showed that they hated it. Once, Astakhov found someone’s Ukrainian flag and burned it in front of the children with the words: “Your country will burn in the same way.”

The girl spent two months in the Druzhba camp in Yevpatoria. Then, the children were transferred to Luchystiy camp, where she lived for another month. After that, Lisa was relocated to study in the occupied city of Henichesk. Living conditions in the dormitory were poor; the doors did not close. The Russian military could come and check at any moment, whether during the day or at night. Whether you are asleep or dressed, it doesn’t matter to them; they shine a flashlight in your face in the middle of the night.

It was also necessary to line up and sing the Russian national anthem and learn Russian songs. And if you don’t do it, they send you to the basement.

Once, Maria Lvova-Belova (Commissioner on children’s rights in RF) came to the college in Henichesk with other officials. She offered Liza and the other children one hundred thousand rubles and an apartment on the condition that they stay in Russia. She also offered to go to Moscow or another city to study. Lisa refused. But there were also children who were tempted by the offer.

The girl stayed in Henichesk for four months. During all this time, she did not have the opportunity to talk to her mother. She had a Russian number, and her mother had a Ukrainian number so you couldn’t call from Crimea or the occupied territory. Liza’s mother did not even know that her daughter was taken to Crimea, let alone displaced to Genichesk.

In Genichesk, they wanted to make a Russian passport for Lisa. However, due to the fact that she did not have a residence permit, they were looking for a guardian for her. With his help, they planned to make a passport and then find a foster family for the child.

So, the first time Lisa and her mother spoke on the phone was when Save Ukraine was already helping Oksana, Lisa’s mother, to get a foreign passport. At that moment, the girl was torn by emotions. She was incredibly happy that her mother was coming to pick her up and that she would return to Ukraine.

Liza really didn’t like the atmosphere of the occupation and the people who treated Ukrainian children badly. Moreover, in college, they began to put pressure on the girl and said that they (Save Ukraine) were giving you false hope that your mother would not take you away, and that would not happen. Everyone put pressure on her – teachers, psychologists, the class teacher. This went on for several weeks to make Lisa stay until her mom came. The girl did not understand why because before that, the children were called stupid and short-sighted; they behaved as if they were children who were incapable of learning.

In May 2023, Lisa’s mother came to pick her up. The teachers were very surprised by this, as they were saying that no one would come. Oksana was checked for a long time; she had signed a bunch of documents. But Lisa was so happy that she just ran to her with tears in her eyes and hugged her.

The way home was long and difficult, but when Lisa crossed the border, she felt that everything around her was native, her own; she was on her own land among her own people. After her return, Lisa lives with her mother in the Hope and Healing Center of the Save Ukraine rescue network. The mother works, the girl studies, creates content for TikTok and writes poetry.