Last week, the Save Ukraine team rescued 19 children and teenagers from occupation. This mission was made possible thanks to the support of our partners within the framework of the President of Ukraine’s Bring Kids Back UA initiative. Each of them endured pressure, intimidation, and attempts at re-education, but today, that is finally behind them.

Among the rescued:

🔹 17-year-old Viktor, who was blackmailed into attending a Russian school and later a college, where teenagers were taught to disassemble assault rifles and handle grenades and drones. In addition, the children were forced to collect aid for Russian soldiers, write them letters to the frontlines, and wear enemy symbols.

🔹 9-year-old Valeriia, who had to attend an occupation school where the Ukrainian language was completely banned. Instead, the child was forcibly enrolled in enemy propaganda movements, made to sing the enemy’s anthem, and forced to write letters to Russian soldiers.

🔹 18-year-old Mykhailo, who was mercilessly beaten by the occupiers and accused of “espionage” while he was still a child. Under the threat of stripping his mother of her parental rights, Mykhailo was forced to attend an occupation school where Ukrainian books were publicly burned and teenagers were taught to operate drones. The young man was forcibly registered for military service, leaving him facing a very real threat of being sent to the frontlines in the ranks of the enemy army.

For these and 16 other children, living in constant fear has finally come to an end. They are now safe—undergoing comprehensive rehabilitation at our Hope and Healing Centers, working with psychologists, and restoring their documents so they can build their futures in a free country.

Unfortunately, thousands of children still remain under occupation, where the enemy is trying to erase their identity and weaponize them. That is why our fight for every single one of them continues.

🙏🏻 Thank you to our partners Wladimir Klitschko, Tatjana Kiel, #WeAreAllUkrainians, and the Joint Center for Coordinating the Search and Release—together, we are bringing children home.

Thanks to Save Ukraine, over 1,800 children are already home.