Why do the occupiers assign special “threat categories” to abducted Ukrainian teenagers? The enemy is not only erasing the identity of orphaned children through propaganda, but also introducing total control at the highest level so that teachers and psychologists can detect and break even the slightest resistance to the russian system.

“Even if both of his arms and legs are in casts, you will still go there. Under escort.” That was the response the parents of 17-year-old Matvii received when they tried to protect their son from military training under russian occupation. Those words became the breaking point after three long years of surviving under constant pressure. Matvii’s family tried to stay “invisible”: avoiding attention, deleting their phones every day, while their son secretly continued studying in a Ukrainian online school. Matvii dreamed of entering a university in free Ukraine, but the occupation system had prepared a very different future for him. It began when the police came to their home, threatening to strip his parents of their parental rights and open a criminal case against them. Under this pressure, Matvii was forced into a russian school, where history classes were replaced with propaganda and teachers deliberately refused to teach the Ukrainian language. Then came forced military registration and an ultimatum: either Matvii attends a five-day military training camp at a closed base, or he would not receive his school certificate. What happened there could hardly be called “education.” It was full-scale military training for teenagers. The territory was fenced off. Wake-up call at 6:00 a.m. Phones confiscated. Constant shouting from instructors. Instead of books, Matvii was taught how to operate drones, dig trenches against the clock, crawl across fields carrying mock weapons, and storm buildings. Any mistake was punished with one hundred push-ups and a clip round the ear. There was no mercy even when children began suffering mass food poisoning from inedible meals. Two students were hospitalized, yet the training continued for everyone else. Ukrainian teenagers were being systematically turned into a “resource” for war against their own country. Thankfully, today that noose has finally been broken. Thanks to the efforts of the Save Ukraine team, Matvii and his parents are finally safe in free Ukraine. The humiliating interrogations at checkpoints and the constant fear of forced conscription are now behind them. “It’s better to serve here than flee abroad,” Matvii says. Today, he is recovering from everything he endured and finally beginning to make plans for his future. But thousands of Ukrainian children in the temporarily occupied territories remain trapped inside this machinery of militarization and fear. We continue fighting for every single one of them — to restore their right to freedom, safety, and a future. Join our rescue missions. Your support and sharing this story help us save children from the trap of occupation. giving.gofundme.com/campaign…

Today I met with Vanessa Frazier — the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict.  I am grateful to Vanessa for coming to Ukraine and seeing with her own eyes the reality in which Ukrainian children are living. It is especially important that she spoke with children whom we have managed to bring back. These are testimonies that cannot be ignored or distorted.  I informed Vanessa about the key issue: today, there is no official international mechanism for the return of Ukrainian children. Therefore, the only truly effective path remains our rescue missions, through which we have already brought home 1,276 children and teenagers. This is the majority of all children returned by Ukraine. And we will continue.  But this must not remain the only solution. According to the UN General Assembly resolution adopted at the end of last year, Ms. Frazier’s mandate includes facilitating the creation of an official mechanism for the return of Ukrainian children. We expect this mechanism to be established and to work toward the best possible outcome.  At the same time, we wish Vanessa success in achieving the main goal — the unconditional return of all Ukrainian l children. To make this possible, the international community must support every available tool for bringing children home, including our rescue missions, which are currently the only truly functioning mechanism and through which we have already rescued 1,276 children and teenagers from temporarily occupied territories and russia.