Another 9 Ukrainian children rescued from occupation – here are their stories
23 May 13:44
Nine more Ukrainian children have been evacuated from the territories temporarily occupied by Russia as part of the Bring Kids Back UA initiative, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports. The initiative’s Facebook page shared some stories from the lives of these children. Each of them is a testament to the hardships that children and their families go through during the occupation. The names of the children have been changed for security reasons and to protect their privacy.
Yevhenia, 17 years old
Almost died due to the lack of proper medical care in the occupation: ambulances do not respond to calls, and hospitals do not have the necessary equipment for diagnosis. Only during an urgent operation could doctors accurately determine her condition. The girl’s life was in danger – it is not known whether she would have survived if she had been admitted to the surgeons with a delay.
Artem, 10 years old
He and his mother were locked in the basement at night by the Russian military while his father was beaten in the next room for trying to protect his wife from a Russian soldier. After the experience, the boy could not sleep for a long time and often cried. At school, he was forced to wear a military cap, sing the Russian national anthem and shout “Glory to Russia.” When the child said “Glory to Ukraine,” the police were called.
Khrystyna, 15 years old
She was deprived of access to education and was caught in an information blockade. The Russian occupiers jammed the connection, so she could not study remotely at a Ukrainian school. At the same time, her mother refused to send her daughter to a Russian educational institution on principle.
Sisters Ilona and Tamila
They spent almost three years in complete isolation at home, unable to see their friends or go to school. In the first six months of the full-scale war, the school and kindergarten in their village were destroyed. The shelling in the town did not stop, armored vehicles drove through the streets, and drunken Russian soldiers walked around.
The Bring Kids Back UA initiative was assisted in the rescue of the children by Save Ukraine, We Are All Ukrainians, Humanity and Reload Love.
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Abduction of Ukrainian children by Russia
These children are lucky that they were not forcibly taken to Russia, as 19,546 other children were under the guise of “humanitarian operations.”
“These children are not only displaced, but also deprived of their Ukrainian identity: they are granted Russian citizenship, placed in Russian families, forced to undergo re-education in Russian, and forbidden to speak Ukrainian. Teenage boys are often forced to participate in militarization programs,”
– reported then-Prosecutor General Kostin in 2024.
At the same time, this estimate of the scale of abductions of Ukrainian children is not the only one and certainly not the highest. In particular, the main organizer of these abductions, the so-called Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Russian Federation, Maria Lvova-Belova, in the summer of 2023, mentioned the figure of 744 thousand Ukrainian children “adopted by the Russian Federation.” Russia does not provide any data on this process and is not accountable to anyone, so it is almost impossible to verify the veracity of this statement.
Darya Gerasymchuk, the Ukrainian Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights, questions the figure given by Belova and believes that it is a standard exaggeration of Russian propaganda. The Ukrainian side estimates that there may be 200-300 thousand abducted Ukrainian children. These estimates are approximate, since we are talking about children from the occupied territories and information about them is collected in a variety of ways.
However, the Ukrainian side has absolutely accurate data on abductions, including personal data, only for 19,546 children. That is why this figure is officially announced, although everyone understands that it is quite far from reality.
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