Last week, the Save Ukraine team rescued 23 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 very real threats to their lives, but the worst is finally behind them.

Among the rescued:

🔹 9-year-old Stefan, who was forced at school to throw grenades and to assemble and disassemble assault rifles. When the boy drew a blue-and-yellow flag, his mother was summoned to the school by FSB officers, who threatened her with violence and demanded she teach her child to “love the motherland.”

🔹 13-year-old Polina, who miraculously survived when a Russian combat drone began hunting her in her own backyard—to save herself, the child had to drop to the ground and hide in thorny bushes. After that, she was so terrified that she refused to leave the house at all. But home wasn’t safe either: armed occupiers would break into houses, and to cut people off from information, they would shoot up household antennas as a show of force.

🔹 20-year-old Mariana, whom armed Russian soldiers forced to walk home under escort for a document check, subjecting her to harsh interrogations at checkpoints. In her occupation school, she was forced to listen to imported teachers who openly declared that Ukraine did not exist.

For these and 20 other children, the occupation is now in the past. Today, they are undergoing rehabilitation at our Hope and Healing Centers, receiving psychological support, assistance with documents, and cozy housing so they can start with a clean slate.

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, The Humanity Funds, and the Joint Center for Coordinating the Search and Release—together, we are bringing Ukrainian children home.

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