Last week, the Save Ukraine team rescued 28 children and teenagers from occupation. This became possible thanks to the support of our partners as part of the President of Ukraine’s Bring Kids Back UA initiative. They had to endure pressure, blackmail, and hostile propaganda, but today, all of that is behind them.

Among those rescued:

🔹 20-year-old Sviatoslav, who narrowly escaped death several times in enemy drone strikes. He witnessed firsthand how people were forced to vote in a sham referendum at gunpoint. After he turned 18, the occupiers began pressuring him to join the russian army.

🔹 18-year-old Andrii, who was forced to train as a drone operator and, as a result, was placed on a priority mobilization list. At university, he was given a harsh ultimatum: either sign a contract with the russian army or be expelled.

🔹 18-year-old Oleksii, who was forced to obtain a russian passport after being threatened that he and his family would be burned alive. At school, armed russian soldiers regularly searched the children and made them empty their pockets. And once, his homeroom teacher brought him a military summons right in the middle of a lesson.

For them and 25 other children, occupation is now in the past. Today, they are undergoing rehabilitation at the Hope and Healing Centers, receiving comprehensive psychological support, assistance with documents, and safe, comfortable housing so they can confidently begin a new life.

However, thousands of children remain trapped in a system that ruthlessly erases their memories and turns them into soldiers. That is why our efforts to bring every one of them home continue.

🙏🏻 We thank our partners Wladimir Klitschko, Tatjana Kiel, #WeAreAllUkrainians, The Humanity Funds, and the Joint Center for Coordination of the Search and Release — together, we are bringing Ukrainian children home.

Thanks to Save Ukraine, more than 1,500 children are already home.