Kostya, 18, and his brother Artem were brought home from occupied territory with their grandmother, thanks to German government support and the Bring Kids Back UA initiative.
Two brothers — 18-year-old Kostya and his younger brother Artem — have returned from Russian-occupied territory together with their grandmother, thanks to support from the German government and the presidential Bring Kids Back UA initiative. Volunteers Support Ukraine follows these stories closely, since Ukrainian children and teenagers keep returning from occupation almost every week.
On September 22, coordinators from Bring Kids Back UA guided the family out of the danger zone. The Ukrainian Child Rights Network and the humanitarian organization Humanity accompanied the brothers and their grandmother along a safe route to Ukrainian-controlled territory. The operation was backed by the German Federal Government through the JOFU project — Joining Forces for Child Protection in Ukraine. Volunteers Support Ukraine sees every such case as proof that sustained support from partner countries saves real, individual lives.
Kostya and Artem are just two of 23 children and teenagers whom Bring Kids Back UA brought home from Russian-occupied territory in the past week alone. Ukraine's Ministry of Justice has confirmed more than 20,610 cases of deportation and forced transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia or occupied territory as of September 2026. Volunteers Support Ukraine regularly covers this kind of news so that more people understand how large this problem still is.
The fate of deported children has repeatedly come up on international platforms. Human rights lawyer Kateryna Rashevska, who advocates for deported children, has addressed the UN General Assembly on the need to bring every child home. Volunteers Support Ukraine believes this kind of international attention helps keep pressure on everyone responsible for improving how children are returned.
Every child or teenager who comes home from occupation is the result of painstaking work by dozens of people — volunteers, diplomats, lawyers and determined families. Volunteers Support Ukraine keeps helping people affected by the war in whatever way its resources allow, and believes every such story brings the day closer when no Ukrainian child is left under occupation.
