She was an ordinary teenager in peacetime. She loved extreme sports, football, and dancing. The girl studied in the fourth grade at the Novopetrivtsi boarding school in the Kherson region. But then came the big war.

The children and staff of the institution hoped that everything would end quickly and the Russians would leave Ukraine. But, unfortunately, the situation did not get better. Due to constant shelling, they had to live in the basement for a long time.

On April 30, a Russian tank entered the territory of the boarding school. Lida remembers how she got scared and hid in the basement. The occupiers tried to win the children’s trust: they brought toys and tried to be friendly. Lida remembered how everyone gathered because it was Nazar’s birthday. A Russian soldier named Nikolai put the little birthday boy on his knees and tried to convince him to go with them. But the boy categorically said: “No!”

The Russians did not react to this situation, and soon Lida understood why.

In a few days, the Russian military returned and gathered the children in front of the corps. “You are going to Russia for recovery!”, they announced. The children were crying because none of them wanted to go. They were better off staying in the basement than going to a foreign country.

But did anyone believe children’s tears? They put security to the group, which an unknown man and woman accompanied. Children packed up things in a panic and cried. And the Russians filmed all this on video. Then, they put everyone in cars driven by soldiers.

“The video shows us crying. We were all afraid. We felt like we were prisoners,” says Lida about that day.

Halfway there, the children were transferred to a military Tiger with military personnel. The attendants joked sarcastically: “Girls, why didn’t you make up your lips? You’re going on vacation.” The children were brought to the Dnipro. There they were transferred to a rusty boat, which could capsize at any moment, and ferried to the other shore.

“We were transferred to a bus and taken to the station. At first, we thought that they would take us to Crimea. But very soon our illusions were shattered: we realized we were going to Russia,” recalls Lida.

After an exhausting journey through the occupied territories, the children ended up in Anapa, in the Pearl camp. “It’s like being in a cage,” Lida describes her stay in that facility. There, children were forbidden not only to use Ukrainian symbols but also to speak Ukrainian. Lida remembers well one boy in the camp whose jacket was in Ukrainian national colors. Then, without hesitation, she took it from him and began to turn it inside out so that the boy would not be beaten.

Rescue came unexpectedly. “When I found out that I was going to Ukraine, I tore my T-shirt out of joy,” says Lida emotionally. “And even when people from Save Ukraine met us, I couldn’t believe I was already in Ukraine. She constantly asked: I speak Ukrainian, and everyone understands me?”, shares Lida’s impressions.

Now, the girl is studying remotely at the school in Voznesensk, the Mykolaiv region. One of her most cherished dreams — to return to Ukraine and meet her relatives — has already come true.
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Save Ukraine is developing a program to help children and families from the occupied territories. Help spread their stories!