Anastasia Dovbnia is the Government Relations Lead of the NGO “Save Ukraine”. She is responsible for building partenerships and advocating with governments of different countries about the issue of the Ukrainian children.
What is the objective of Save Ukraine?
Our organization, Save Ukraine, is focused on rescuing Ukrainian children abducted and directly taken to Russia, and those in occupied territories. We were born in 2014 and already then we rescued hundreds of children and their families from the occupied territories and areas near the frontline. In 2022, we had to expand our team to cope with renewed Russian efforts to steal Ukrainian children and, on the other hand, to create a rehabilitation and reintegration structure. Right now we work with other agencies and are part of the “Bring Kids Back” initiative. Our rescue team is responsible for 90% of the children who have returned to Ukraine and we have a special 3-6 month rehabilitation program that offers legal assistance, social and psychological support, and also tools to restore their lives. It must be understood that these children are returning from absolute danger and need stability and someone to support them to heal and become resilient; we believe in raising the next generation for the future of Ukraine and rescuing these children must be one of our priorities.
How many children have been abducted by Russia?
Unfortunately, no one can give an exact figure. In 2023, the Ukrainian government made public a number of twenty thousand abducted children and that same year the Russians uncovered the true scale of their crime when the Russian Ombudswoman, Lvova-Belova, acknoledge that they have register 700,000 Ukrainian children in Russia. From our experience rescuing children since 2014, we estimate that 1.6 million Ukrainian children, both in Russia and in the occupied territories, are suffering from Russian captivity and are being indoctrinated and militarized. To keep them in the occupied territories and prevent them from leaving, 16- and 17-year-old minors receive their conscription letter to serve in the Russian army, which will not become effective until they turn 18, but which can send them to a “rehabilitation” camp in Russia if they try to leave. As another example, in order to “Russify” children and their families, they are denied medical care or other basic necessities unless they accept Russian citizenship. Families have also been forced to take Russian passports under threat of having their children taken away, or a mother who has just given birth to a child is told that she cannot leave the hospital until she signs a document that she and the newborn are now “legally” Russian.
These children are trapped and the goal is to ruin their stability and identity, to make them weak so that they accept the narrative that Russia came to save them. In schools they have to praise the Russian military who tell stories of how they are liberating Ukraine, that Russia is their friend, etc.
Using the population of conquered territories to enlist them in their army and conquer new territory is an old Russian tactic.
Yes, absolutely, and that is one of the main arguments we can use to advocating an international audience: Russia is not going to stop. Their goal is not to kill everyone, they have come to destroy Ukraine, to take our children to restore its demography, to enlist them to become soldiers and continue attacking other territories. They believe that Russia has no borders.
In the Kherson region, before the city was liberated, the Russians intensified their efforts to take as many Ukrainian children as possible to Russia. These children are first Russified and then indoctrinated to serve in the Russian army. Unlike in the United States or Europe, where the percentage of school-age children involved in military activities is 1.5%, in Russia it is 87%. Several children have told us that in their school diary, which in Ukraine usually has quotations related to Ukrainian culture, literature or music, it was written that their sacred mission is to die for Putin and Holy Mother Russia. We have also rescued 17-year-old boys who were in military academies and were already ready to go to war. There is a girl, who is now in rehabilitation, who knew how to prepare booby traps and who told us that every morning they were woken up with the Russian anthem in the military camp and they were taught how to destroy tanks, fly drones or parachute. The training is so hard that some trainees are killed or injured.
How are these rescues done?
Each case is unique. We have a team that works around the clock and identifies the children and where they are and, most importantly, establishes reliable contact with them and their families. So far, we have rescued more than 780 children, 157 of whom were orphans, and we will continue to do that to the best of our ability.
Is it difficult for these children to return to normalcy?
Yes, it is very difficult. In our centers we provide them with psychological support, good nutrition and everything necessary for their recovery. Some of them sleep for days after the rescue. When we ask them if they are well, they answer in the affirmative because there are no Russian soldiers entering their houses at night. Others had hardly left their homes because their families had hidden them. They are vulnerable children and we are very careful to help them.
Sometimes, when we work with the children and their families, it is easier for the children to adapt and they recover sooner. We had the case of a child, whose parents had died in occupied territory, who we rescued with his grandmother. For months she was unable to tell the child that his parents had died because she could not get over the situation. Our job was to give them psychological support to overcome these horrible circumstances so that they could move on with their lives.
How long does the rehabilitation process last?
For six months we care for them in our centers, but in specific cases we continue to provide support to make them independent and resilient people. The rehabilitation process almost never ends and we keep in touch so that we can help when needed. We also have additional programs for orphans whose parents have been detained or have died in the occupied territories, or who have been victims of violence or human trafficking.
Do you have real support from international organizations such as the Red Cross or the United Nations?
No, our support comes from private donors and the Ukrainian government. The organizations you mention amplify our message about abducted children, which is very important so that the world does not forget what is going on, but they do not support our programs or rescue. What we do ask them is to help us on a higher level, for example, by using their power and influence to put political pressure on Russia to find out where the children are, how many are orphans, how many have been enlisted in the Russian army and how many have died.
The case of the kidnapped Ukrainian children was one of the issues discussed at the White House meeting between Donald Trump, Zelenski and European leaders. Do you think there can finally be more international pressure on Russia?
We really hope that they will use their influence to bring the children home, release the hostages and put an end to their suffering and human trafficking. What Russia is doing is human trafficking and we recently discovered that Ukrainian children from the Lugansk region are appearing on a website of the Ministry of Education of the self-proclaimed LPR (Lugansk People’s Republic) to, under the guise of adoption, be sold to traffickers and pedophiles.
That is why we are very grateful to President Trump and Ursula von der Leyen for addressing this issue and also to Melania Trump for her message. We hope that they will use their influence to put pressure on Russia because this would be a very important step to bring the children back.
