Kathrine Frich
Within weeks, Russian troops arrived at their door and demanded the boy’s passport.
Within weeks, Russian troops arrived at their door and demanded the boy’s passport.
A Father’s Worst Fear Comes True
Farmer Volodymyr Sanin lived in constant fear after Russian forces cut off his small village in Kharkiv Oblast.
His family’s policy of silence and avoidance had kept them safe for months, but his adopted teenage son soon began slipping out to meet new friends.
When his son came home smelling of alcohol, Sanin realized soldiers were grooming him.
Within weeks, Russian troops arrived at their door and demanded the boy’s passport.
Kidnapped Under the Pretext of “Study”
The soldiers told Sanin his son was going to Russia to study and play football.
Powerless to resist, the family handed him over, terrified for the safety of their other children.
It was the last time they would see him for nearly a year.
In reality, the boy was thrust into hardship, scrambling for food and facing pressure to enter a Russian military school.
A Wider Strategy of Abduction
Sanin’s story is not an isolated tragedy. Since the full-scale invasion began, thousands of Ukrainian children have been seized by Russian authorities.
Independent investigators have verified 35,000 abductions, but the true number may be far higher.
Many are lured with promises of safety at holiday camps, only to vanish into Russian-controlled territories.
Save Ukraine Steps In
Desperate to save his son, Sanin turned to Save Ukraine, a charity dedicated to rescuing kidnapped children.
Founded over a decade ago, the group organizes daring operations across enemy lines.
To date, they have brought nearly 800 children back to their families.
But with 1.6 million minors believed to be displaced or taken, the workload is overwhelming.
“This Is What Putin Wants”
Save Ukraine’s legal chief, Myroslava Kharchenko, says the abductions are no accident.
She describes them as a deliberate strategy ordered from the Kremlin.
Children are stripped of their Ukrainian identity, indoctrinated with propaganda, and prepared either to fight for Russia or raise future generations of “new Russians.”
For Kharchenko, the goal is clear: erase Ukraine by targeting its youngest citizens.
A Daring Escape From Indoctrination
Just days before being enrolled in a Russian military school, Sanin’s son attempted a secret escape.
He was briefly detained and beaten, but in the chaos of Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s mutiny, he was mistakenly released.
Bruised but free, he made it back into Ukrainian-held territory.
His parents rushed to Kyiv to embrace him after 11 agonizing months.
Fighting Back on the Frontlines
Now 19, Sanin’s son has joined the Ukrainian army.
He is determined to fight the very forces that once tried to turn him into a soldier for their cause.
His father knows their family is one of the lucky few. Most parents still wait for children taken from homes, schools, and orphanages emptied by the Russian army.
For Sanin, every abduction is a war crime that tears apart both family bonds and a nation’s future.
