Seventeen children have been returned to Ukraine from occupied territories, the Bring Kids Back UA initiative reports. Among them are minors who faced forced military training, threats from occupation authorities, and bullying in Russian schools.
One of the returnees is 17-year-old Mykyta, whom occupation authorities forced into a "military camp" near Melitopol. His parents could not object because officials threatened to withhold his school certificate without a camp completion document.
The teenager spent five days in army-like conditions: wake-up at 6 am, formation drills, timed trench-digging, assembling assault rifles and drones, and building assault exercises.
Another 17-year-old returnee, Rostyslav, has relatives serving in the Ukrainian army. Occupation forces came to his family's home immediately after capturing the village. During a search, Russian military personnel confiscated all the boy's devices and took him to a police station for several hours.
After that, soldiers repeatedly came to their home, intimidating and threatening him and his mother.
Seven-year-old Yaroslav, who lived with his grandparents on the right bank of Kherson Oblast for three years, has now reached government-controlled territory. His parents left for Kherson when the city was not yet occupied but could not return—the bridge was blown up and the crossing closed. Since then, the family has been on opposite sides of the front line.
Relatives hid the boy from occupation forces and even obtained Russian documents to avoid suspicion. When they learned that occupation authorities were planning to "remove" the child, they decided to flee.
The initiative also returned 12-year-old Sonia and 9-year-old Tymofiy, who were afraid to attend Russian schools. A classmate said directly about the girl: "She should be killed because she is from Ukraine."
Tymofiy was constantly insulted and forced to listen to anti-Ukrainian songs. As soon as an opportunity arose, the family left the occupation.
All rescued children are now safe and receiving psychological support, help with documents, and shelter.
Earlier, a 23-year-old mother with an infant was returned from temporarily occupied territory. She lived in constant fear for a year and hid at home to avoid losing her child.
