Twelve children who survived the horrors of Russian occupation have been rescued thanks to the President’s Bring Kids Back UA initiative and the relentless efforts of our partners at Save Ukraine.
Each of their stories is a testament to resilience and survival:
16-year-old Yaryna lost her mother due to the neglect of Russian doctors and lived in constant fear of being sent to an orphanage.
17-year-old Tymur was drafted into the Russian army despite being underage.
15-year-old Yulia was sent to a camp near Moscow, where she was subjected to relentless propaganda about the “Russian world” and told to embrace her so-called “new homeland.”
8-year-old Vika and her father hid inside their home to avoid Russian authorities. Because he refused Russian citizenship, he feared for his daughter’s safety. A pro-Russian neighbor even tried to take Vika away through Russia’s state guardianship system.
13-year-old Ulyana spent nearly three years under occupation, staying with her mother as she cared for a sick grandmother. Realizing she had no future there, she reached out to Save Ukraine for help.
These children faced not just the loss of their homes, but the erasure of their identities and futures. Russia blocks families from escaping occupied territories, holds children as “human shields,” and turns schools into tools of indoctrination. Every day under occupation is a fight to survive.
But today, they are safe. Thanks to Save Ukraine, We Are All Ukrainians, Ron Wahid, the Humanity Charitable Foundation, and the Joint Center for Coordination of Search and Rescue, these children have been freed from Russian captivity.
This is another small but powerful victory in the fight for humanity against the Kremlin’s cruelty. We will not stop until every stolen Ukrainian child is home.