Save Ukraine, a Ukrainian humanitarian NGO, rescued two more children, including an orphan, from territories under Russian occupation, the organization's founder Mykola Kuleba said on April 9.
Children from parts of Ukraine that were occupied by Russia during the full-scale invasion have often been separated from their families or left without parental care as a result of hostilities and the inability to safely cross into the Ukraine-controlled territory.
Russia’s all-out war against Ukraine has led to around 1,800 Ukrainian children becoming orphans, the National Social Service of Ukraine said in a comment to the Kyiv Independent in March.
The rescued orphan boy lived with his grandmother for the past seven years when their village was occupied by Russian troops, Kuleba said on Telegram.
Their village was often shelled, and his grandmother decided they needed to leave when a shell flew into their yard and destroyed part of the house by the blast wave, Kuleba added.
Daria Shulzhenko
"The trip was tough. At the border, the Russian special services subjected the elderly woman and the orphan boy to real abuse - they searched all their belongings, threw everything out of their bags… During the difficult journey, (the grandmother) started having problems with her legs."
Another rescued child, an eight-year-old girl, had lived in a town that was occupied shortly after Russian troops invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, according to Kuleba.
“The mobile connection and the Internet disappeared, only explosions could be heard somewhere far away... The atmosphere around was terrible,” he added.
“It was especially scary to stay there after the news from Bucha and Irpin (in Kyiv Oblast), so no one walked outside, people tried not to catch anyone's eyes, not to drive between settlements.”
Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, Save Ukraine has managed to return 284 children, including 73 orphans, from Russia and occupied territories to the government-controlled part of Ukraine.
At least 19,500 Ukrainian children have been confirmed as abducted by Russia, and less than 400 of them have been returned home, according to the Children of War database.
(Updated: )
