Had he not been rescued, Serhii might today be learning to fire grenades or drive tanks for the Russian army. The 14-year-old Ukrainian was just 11 when Russian forces deported him from his hometown of Vovchansk, in the Kharkiv region, to a camp across the border. Like thousands of abducted Ukrainian children, he was bullied and brainwashed by Russian authorities, eager to feed more young recruits into their so-called meat grinder.
Instead, thanks to the determination of his older sister Kseniia – who had herself escaped capture – he is back in Ukraine. When she finally reached him after months apart, she expected her little brother to run into her arms. Instead, he stood frozen.
“My brother didn’t even hug me when we met, and it was very strange,” she said.
“He started repeating all of the propaganda that he had been fed. He was scared that there are Nazis, that they were going to kill him, that he would be very miserable, and that they would hate him.”
For three hours she reminded him of their childhood. Slowly the fear faded. At last, he asked: “Are you sure it’s safe?” Kseniia took his hands. “Yes, Serhii. We’ll be safe together.”
Their ordeal began in the autumn of 2022 when Vovchansk fell under Russian occupation.
Orphans before the war, they only had each other. While Serhii was deported to a Russian-run camp in Krasnodar Krai, Kseniia, then 17, was forced into a vocational school across the border.
Both were trapped in a system designed to erase their Ukrainian identity.
At first, Serhii sent desperate messages begging to return. But his Russian foster parents told him Ukraine lay in ruins and his sister had abandoned him.
Teachers bullied him and demanded he sing the Russian national anthem by heart.
Gradually his messages changed. Then they stopped.
But Kseniia refused to give up.
With help from Save Ukraine, she travelled across Russia, secured documents and confronted the foster parents.
At first, her brother refused to leave, repeating the lies he had been fed. After hours of quiet persuasion, he agreed.
Together they made the dangerous journey back to Ukraine, evading checkpoints where discovery could have meant detention.
Today, Serhii lives with a Ukrainian foster family, while Kseniia, now 20, studies journalism in Kyiv.
“I promised I would never leave my brother, no matter what,” she said.
“Through my story, I want people to understand what is happening to Ukrainian kids.”
Her story reflects a much wider crisis. A new report by War Child UK, Save Ukraine and the Human Security Centre, published today, documents the systematic abduction, indoctrination and militarisation of Ukrainian children under Russian occupation.
Based on 200 testimonies, it concludes that Russia’s aim is to erase Ukrainian identity and transform children into a mobilisation resource for its armed forces. The study calls it the largest organised campaign of child rights violations in Europe since the Yugoslav wars.
It found that 55% of children were subjected to pro-Russian indoctrination and bans on the Ukrainian language.
Some 41% reported militarisation, including weapons training and youth drills, while 30% attended camps where they fired live rounds and grenades.
More chillingly, 10% said they had been tortured, while 6% reported sexual assaults.
One rescued girl, aged 16, told Save Ukraine: “Every day felt like we were being shaped into something we weren’t. They didn’t treat us like kids. They wanted us to behave like their soldiers.”
Carey Mulligan, War Child’s Global Ambassador, said: “These children have been ripped away from their families and given military training. No child should be exposed to this kind of treatment.”
Helen Pattinson, War Child UK’s CEO, added: “Protecting children in conflict is not optional. It is a fundamental obligation under international law. The world cannot look away.”
Tomorrow, War Child and Save Ukraine will launch Return Every Child at London’s Outernet.
The installation will feature 19,546 paper dolls, one for each child verified as abducted by March 2023. Visitors will be invited to decorate them with drawings or messages of hope, while a 360-degree video will show testimonies from survivors.
Save Ukraine’s founder Mykola Kuleba said his organisation has already rescued more than 800 children. “In each child’s eyes we see fear,” he said.
“In their voices we hear stories of being punished for speaking Ukrainian, forced into military camps and subjected to relentless psychological and physical abuse. Their very identities are being erased.”
For Kseniia, that was nearly her brother’s fate. She believes Serhii, like many others, would eventually have been pushed towards the frontlines.
“Children should be children, not soldiers,” she said.
“Russia is turning boys into fighters and girls into breeding machines. It is criminal.”
Despite everything, however, she clings to hope.
“My life turned upside down, my dreams shattered. But I am grateful I am safe and that my brother is with me,” she said.
“I will always help my brother. And I will always speak out for others still trapped.”
Support the Express’s Crusade to Return the Stolen Children by donating to Save Ukraine at: https://giving.classy.org/campaign/716398/donate