Kateryna Fedosenko from Kyiv coordinates rescue missions for teenage boys at risk of being drafted into Russia's military from occupied territories in Ukraine. Since February 2022, tens of thousands of Ukrainian children have been taken by Russian forces; the government has verified 20,651 cases but estimates a higher number. NGO Save Ukraine, run by Fedosenko, has rescued over 1,700 children from Russia and occupied areas, with many now facing conscription as they approach age 18 under Russian occupation. The risky journey back to Ukraine involves traveling through territories controlled by Russia and Belarus, where border agents often try to prevent the escape of Ukrainians attempting to return home.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-28,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Kateryna Fedosenko barely looks up from her phone as she paces back and forth, frantically switching between encrypted text and voice notes.
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she → look → text
From the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, she's coordinating an urgent rescue mission: getting a group of teenage boys out of Russian-controlled territory.
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group → coordinate → territory
She glances up briefly.
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She → glance → ?
"It will be four boys tomorrow," she says.
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she → say → ?
Seventeen-year-old Bogdan left his village near the frontline in the Russian-occupied Kherson region three days ago with the teens and two foster parents.
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Bogdan → leave → teens
It's a race against time for Kateryna and her team of rescuers at NGO Save Ukraine to extract the boys, who could be drafted into Russia's war machine at any moment.
uncertain
who → extract → moment
"The Russian military can come and just take them away.
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military → come → them
They constantly live in such fear," she says.
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she → live → fear
Tens of thousands of Ukrainian kids have been stolen — abducted, forcibly transferred, or deported against their will — since the war began in February 2022.
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war → steal → February
The Ukrainian government has verified the identities of 20,651 children it says have been taken by Russia but estimates the true number to be much higher.
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number → verify → Russia
A race against time
Kateryna is the linchpin of Save Ukraine's rescue operations and, so far, the organisation has brought home more than 1,700 children from Russia and occupied territories.
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organisation → bring → Russia
In the early days of the war, most of their cases were children who'd been abducted, but increasingly Kateryna's team is being called to save kids like Bogdan, who are facing new threats growing up under Russian occupation.
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who → abduct → occupation
There are 1.6 million Ukrainian kids living under Russian control along Ukraine's eastern flank, where indoctrination and military training are being carried out on a mass scale.
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indoctrination → be → scale
Autumn in Russian territory means a conscription drive is fast approaching.
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drive → mean → territory
Moscow has installed its own people to run the cities and towns it now occupies and makes life almost impossible for Ukrainians who refuse to accept Russian citizenship and military training.
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who → instal → citizenship
Boys on the cusp of turning 18 are fair game, adding to the urgency of their escape.
"They draft the boys, force them to sign a contract, and send them to war," Kateryna says.
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Kateryna → turn → war
With the frontline stretching along the eastern and northern borders of the country, the only safe route back into Ukraine is travelling through Russia and its close ally Belarus.
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route → stretch → Russia
Save Ukraine says Russian border agents, and those planted at Belarusian checkpoints, look for any opportunity to prevent Ukrainians from leaving.
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agents → save → Ukrainians
The fear of being detained or interrogated at the border is the very reason why many don't attempt the crossing, or take years to try.
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many → detain → years
Kateryna coordinates a covert network of underground operatives and safe houses across Russia and occupied territory.
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Kateryna → coordinate → Russia
As conditions have become more perilous, the team must now engineer the rescues remotely, which means many kids make the crossing alone.
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kids → become → crossing
Those leaving have to delete any evidence of communication with Save Ukraine to avoid discovery at one of the many checkpoints along the way.
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Those → leave → way
"If they find out at the border that they are being helped … for them, it would be very harsh," she says.
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she → find → them
"They might not let them through because our organisation is seen in Russia as extremist.
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organisation → let → Russia
As time goes by, the children become harder to track.
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children → go → ?
Russia constantly moves them to make them more difficult to find.
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them → move → them
The team at Save Ukraine uses open-source information such as satellite imagery, flight tracking data, social media pages and posts by the Russian government to track the children.
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team → use → children
Among some of the chilling information they've uncovered are the profiles of hundreds of Ukrainian kids on Russian adoption websites.
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profiles → uncover → websites
The children are advertised by age, gender, hair and eye colour.
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children → advertise → age
Loading...Even their temperament, personality type and whether they follow instructions are listed.
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they → load → instructions
Anyone scrolling the website can arrange a video call with them.
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Anyone → scroll → them
While we're at Save Ukraine HQ, Valentina comes looking for an update on her little sister Vlada, who was taken four years ago from a summer camp in Russian-annexed Crimea.
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who → look → Crimea
Vlada has slowly cut communication with Valentina, who fears she's being brainwashed.
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she → cut → Valentina
"It seems like a foster family took her," she says.
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she → seem → her
"She called me, and then she just disappeared.
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she → call → me
After that, she deleted the entire chat history …
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she → delete → history
Then she blocked all her social media."
In 2023, Vlada's grandmother went to Crimea to pick her up, where she was interrogated by Russian security agents for 14 hours.
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she → block → hours
She had a heart attack and died.
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She → have → attack
"Grandma didn't make it," says Valentina.
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Valentina → make → it
She wells up as she recalls last hearing from Vlada in 2025, when she told her she planned to move to Moscow with her new Russian family.
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she → well → family
…and 19 more, not listed.
The Aporia
