The people of Ukraine continue to face constant danger from almost daily Russian drone attacks. Adding to the death and destruction, Russian Forces have taken thousands of Ukrainian children into captivity.
Mykola Kuleba, founder of Save Ukraine, explains that his organization is committed to rescuing all of Ukraine’s children who may have been subjected to human trafficking.
“It’s horrible,” Kuleba says. “Ukraine lost 50 percent of its children’s population. It was more than eight million children who live in Ukraine before the first invasion in 2014. But then the full-scale invasion of 2022, we lost almost four million kids. And the biggest issue is that more than a million stayed in Russia captivity.”
Three yeas ago, Danylo “Danik” Yatsentyu and friends at a youth recreation camp were taken captive by invading Russian forces. Danik, now 16, tells CBN News the Russians told them horrible stories about Ukraine.
“They don’t want to return us back because ‘They’re Nazis. They will kill us and they will eat us there.’ And that’s very dangerous. And I believed that propaganda because everybody kept saying that its dangerous to come back to Ukraine.”
The most cruel statement came when Russians told Danik that his mother didn’t want him and didn’t love him. Back home, Alla, his mother, desperately searched for her missing son. “I’ve been doing the impossible. I’ve been doing everything to just rescue him,” she said.
Alla reached out to Save Ukraine for help. After six months, they helped reunite Alla and Danik. While their ordeal ended, thousands of children remain separated from their families. Alla says Russia can never be trusted. “From our children, Russia wants to make them their slaves and their soldiers. Russia is not our friend.”
Kuleba confirms that children taken into Russian captivity are often exposed to propaganda to indoctrinate them and persuade them to stay in Russia. He adds that Save Ukraine acts like an underground railroad to freedom for the children.
“We rescued a lot of kids who’ve been taken to military camp or military academy, or Russian army, or have been abused. Through our research, we found that one of 15 is sexually abused in occupied territory.”
The plight of the children came to the attention of First Lady Melania Trump. She wrote a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, seeking his help in returning all of the children. At the White House, she stated, “A child’s soul knows no borders, no flags. We must foster a future for our children. Which is rich with potential security and complete with free will. A world where dreams will be realized rather than faded by war.”
Putin responded by providing a team to work with her representative to ensure the safe return of Ukrainian children. So far, only eight children have been returned. However, Save Ukraine welcomes the First Lady’s attention to the children.
“She can help to verify the kids and bring them home,” Kuleba says. “We believe this, and we really need her…It’s a first step, but I only ask her not stop.”
It is difficult to predict what the fate of the Ukrainian children who are still being held in Russian captivity will be. Save Ukraine says it will not stop trying to rescue every child that was taken by Russian forces. They ask Americans to pray for the peace and protection of all Ukrainians, but in particular, the children, who need to be back home with their families.
