For Ukrainian children trapped under Russian occupation, getting home is rarely as simple as crossing a border. Some have spent years living under the threat of detention, intimidation, and violence. Others face bureaucratic obstacles, dangerous journeys, and the uncertainty of leaving behind the only lives they have known since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Bringing them back requires an extraordinary combination of persistence, coordination, and discretion.

Angelina Linchuk (Kasyanova) works with the Ukrainian Child Rights Network, an organization helping children and young adults return from Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories and Russia. Since spring 2023, the organization has helped bring home 435 children and young people, navigating complicated documentation requirements, coordinating volunteers, and arranging psychological and practical support for those who return.

The work is both deeply personal and extraordinarily sensitive. A single miscalculation can jeopardize a child’s safety, while revealing too much about a successful operation can endanger future rescues. Yet for those involved, each successful return represents something larger than a humanitarian achievement: the restoration of a young person’s freedom, security, and sense of belonging.

In this conversation with Scott Douglas Jacobsen, Linchuk discusses the dangers facing Ukrainian children under Russian occupation, the logistical and financial challenges of bringing them home, the psychological consequences of prolonged displacement, and the international partnerships sustaining these efforts.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: How did your work with the Ukrainian Child Rights Network begin, and how has the organization’s mission evolved since Russia’s full-scale invasion? Can you share an individual case that illustrates the challenges involved in bringing Ukrainian children home?

Angelina Linchuk (Kasyanova): I have been working with the Ukrainian Child Rights Network for years. To date, we have returned 435 children and young people from occupied territories and the Russian Federation. We have been working on this process since around spring 2023. I would like to share the story of a 17-year-old boy whom we brought back to Ukraine about a year ago.

Since 2022, he had been living under Russian occupation with his younger brother and sister. His village was completely occupied by Russian forces, and life there remains extremely difficult. Local residents faced threats, abductions, detention in basements, and torture at the hands of Russian security forces.

Unfortunately, this boy was no exception. He reached out to us after we successfully evacuated a friend of his, who then shared our contact details with him. He told us that Russian security forces had detained him in a basement several times and humiliated him because of his nationality. He is Ukrainian and of Roma origin.

My team and I then began developing a plan for his return. Time was extremely limited, so we had to make a critical decision quickly. I cannot disclose the details of the return logistics, as doing so could jeopardize future operations to bring other children and young people back to Ukraine.

However, I can share that our volunteers first transported him to Minsk, where he had to obtain a return certificate. Only after that did our volunteers take him to the Domanove–Mokrany border crossing, which served as a designated humanitarian corridor.

Today, he lives, works, and studies in Ukraine.

Later, in November 2025, we also managed to bring his family out of the occupied territory. Under occupation, he was tortured by Russian forces because he had drawn the Ukrainian coat of arms on a fence. Today, he is finally able to live freely, I think.

I remember when he called me from the Ukrainian border to thank me and the entire Ukrainian Child Rights Network team for bringing him home. He was crying. I hope they were tears of joy.
Moments like this remind me just how fragile our work is, especially now.

Jacobsen: Returning children from Russian-occupied territories requires coordination among humanitarian organizations, international donors, and Ukrainian authorities. Which partnerships are most important to your work, and how does the Ukrainian Child Rights Network contribute to the broader Bring Kids Back UA initiative?

Linchuk (Kasyanova): Our organization tries to bring children back ourselves. We are a large organization now, but we also have partners. Some of our partners are donors, such as Save the Children. We are also working with JOFU, for example. These are donors and partners from other countries that provide funding to help us bring children home.

Every Ukrainian organization working on the return of children operates, in some way, within the President of Ukraine’s Bring Kids Back UA initiative. I think that is the best way to describe it.

Jacobsen: Every return operation presents different logistical, administrative, and financial challenges. What does it typically cost to bring a child home, and why can those expenses vary so significantly from one case to another?

Linchuk (Kasyanova): It is difficult to say because every case is individual. One case might cost around €300, but if we consider the entire process, the cost can be much higher, perhaps around €1,500. We have many cases, and each one is different, so it is difficult to give a single figure.

Jacobsen: Many of the children returning from Russian occupation have experienced prolonged fear, intimidation, or violence. Among those willing to speak about their experiences, what psychological and emotional challenges emerge most frequently? How does your organization help them adjust to life after their return?

Linchuk (Kasyanova): I can say that children who come from occupied territories or from Russia are, first of all, very frightened. Some have spent years living under occupation. They may have witnessed violence or torture involving Russian soldiers, or feared for their parents, including the possibility that their parents could be detained in basements. These experiences can create serious psychological difficulties.

Our organization has psychologists who work with children who have returned from occupied territories and from Russia.

We have a broader cycle of support. The first stage is the return process. Once the child reaches Ukrainian-controlled territory, he or she can begin working with a case manager and a psychologist and receive further assistance.

If we are speaking generally about the mental health of children and young people returning from occupied territories, the main thing I can say is that many of them are very afraid.

Jacobsen: Your organization assists not only young children but also teenagers and young adults. What age groups fall within your mandate, and how do documentation requirements and the need for adult accompaniment complicate the return of younger children?

Linchuk (Kasyanova): We try to help people from birth up to 23 years old. Of course, when we are talking about very young children, they can only return with their parents or with another responsible adult who can accompany them throughout the return process.

There are also many questions concerning the children’s documents. We try to help everyone within this age range, from newborns up to 23 years old.

Jacobsen: Some return operations involve children facing immediate threats to their safety, while others require navigating complicated routes and documentation requirements. Without compromising operational security, how does your organization assess the risks, determine when urgent intervention is necessary, and coordinate the journey back to Ukrainian-controlled territory?

Linchuk (Kasyanova): I can speak more about the return process. We have procedures for dealing with these situations.

If we identify a high-risk situation involving a child living in occupied territory, for example, and we determine that it may not be safe for the child to remain in his or her current circumstances, including with a parent in some cases, we understand that we need to act quickly. Our first consideration is the child’s safety and best interests.

After that, we begin the return process. We currently work with volunteers who assist with these operations. They may travel by car or bus and accompany the child through the different stages of the journey.

In some cases, the route involves traveling through Russia and then Belarus, including Minsk. In Minsk, the necessary documentation, such as a return certificate, can be arranged through the appropriate Ukrainian consular authorities. Only after that can they continue toward the Ukrainian border.

That is about as much as I can say regarding the details of the return process.

Jacobsen: Angelina, thank you for sharing your experiences and for taking the time to discuss this important work.