Becky DeVito retweeted
“We just wanted to eat and drink water,”
Ukrainian kids who survived Russian occupation and deportation testify in the Spanish Senate.
Becky DeVito retweeted
Read this text from Volodymyr Kukharenko to understand the everyday life of Ukrainian people:
I have not been on vacation for four years. I have had no business trips to establish new connections. Currently, I live and work about 70% of the time without electricity. I had to buy batteries. On average, every two weeks I wake up in the middle of the night to explosions. My children have spent hundreds of days sleeping outside their own beds. Some of my friends have been killed; others are on the front line. Some members of my team joined the army, and one of them was wounded. I’ve seen hundreds of videos and photos of destroyed homes, murdered people, torture and executions, and children’s funerals. I may end up in trenches myself.
Do I want the war to end? Of course I do. Much more than you — believe me. So why don’t I support the “peace plan” Trump is pushing?
Because one does not have to be a genius to understand that this plan would bring only a short pause before a much bigger war. If no one but Ukraine uses force to stop Putin, why would he stop? He will come up with another excuse for why his army must move further. And if he knows that neither the U.S. nor the EU will intervene, what will stop him?
I often hear the argument: “I just want people to stop dying.” I want that too — far more than you —b ecause I am one of those people. But if Ukraine withdraws without a fight from the cities in Donbas that it has fortified for years, why do you think that will save lives? About 300,000 people live there. They will either have to flee or stay and undergo “filtration,” which means many will be tortured and executed. Men will be forcibly drafted into the Russian army. And then that army will march further, forcing Ukrainians to kill Ukrainians. Tell me — how does that save lives?
It also means the Russian army will gain the ability to bomb territories that are currently safe. The war will not end. Ukraine will simply lose its fortress cities without a fight. Those who “just want to go home to their families” and support this idea will eventually find themselves fighting again — this time in even worse conditions.
And who says that if they go home, they won’t be quietly taken in the middle of the night and simply disappear? That would be the most logical thing for Russia to do if it takes over. Genocide is the only way to break a nation’s spirit. In the 1990s, they killed 25% of the Chechen nation. They killed millions of Ukrainians before. They killed in Bucha and Izium in 2022, and in other occupied cities — you can find the photos if you want. Why do you think they won’t repeat it?
There is nothing that would protect us from this scenario. That is why there is absolutely no reason for me to support this plan. We need peace — not the horrors of occupation.
Becky DeVito retweeted
Russia has just amended its criminal code to allow prosecution of children as young as 14 years old for “sabotage” — with penalties reaching life imprisonment.
For Ukrainian teenagers living under Russian occupation, this is not a theoretical threat. It is a direct extension of a system designed to criminalize their identity.
In occupied regions, children already live under surveillance. Their phones are checked, their social media monitored, their behavior evaluated through “profiles” created by occupation authorities. Any sign of Ukrainian consciousness — reading independent media, refusing a Russian school, supporting Ukraine — is routinely treated as suspicion, disloyalty, or “extremism.”
Now these same children can be branded “terrorists.”
We have seen what this leads to. Two 16-year-old boys from occupied Berdyansk — Tigran Ohanyan and Mykyta Hanganov — were accused of sabotage, tortured, and killed. Their bodies have still not been returned to their families. Their story shows exactly how Russia applies these laws: not for justice, but for intimidation and control.
For Ukrainian children, the message is simple and terrifying:
you can be punished not for what you did, but for who you are.
This is a grave violation of international law and a direct attack on childhood itself. No state committed to human rights can ignore a system that treats teenagers as enemies of the state for resisting an occupying regime.
At @SaveukraineUs , we continue to rescue children from these territories, protect them from persecution, and help them heal from trauma. But thousands remain trapped under policies that now give legal cover to abuse.
The world must speak about this clearly. Criminalizing children is not security policy — it is state violence.
Please share this post. The more people know, the harder it becomes for these crimes to remain hidden.
Becky DeVito retweeted
Russian 're-education': how Ukrainian children are being broken under occupation
What if a child’s mother tongue, books, memories — even their love for their country — were labeled “extremism”?
This is the reality for Ukrainian children living under Russian occupation.
While the world focuses on the front line, Russia is running a parallel war: a war on identity.
On occupied territories, children are monitored, pressured, threatened, and “re-educated” according to detailed instructions issued to teachers and occupation officials. Their phones are searched. Their social media activity is logged. “Suspicious” thoughts, words or actions are written down in so-called “social passports.”
And the same manuals that call Ukrainian children “dangerous” also recommend sending them to Russian military-patriotic programs — factories that turn teenagers into future soldiers.
This is not just control. It is the systematic destruction of a generation.
Save Ukraine is fighting to save its children. But we cannot do it alone.
📣 Watch and share this video.
Silence helps the perpetrators. Awareness protects the victims.
📲Scan QR code in the video
There you will find the full text of Russia’s indoctrination manual and the stories of children who survived it.
Or read full “instruction” here: saveukraineua.org/news/guide…
Every share, every voice helps bring another child home.
Becky DeVito retweeted
Russia isn’t even trying to hide it anymore. It’s openly trafficking Ukrainian children.
On official platforms, Ukrainian orphans are displayed like products in an online marketplace.
Full-face photos. Age. Eye color. Health status. Even “obedience level.” Filterable. Sortable. Selectable.
This isn’t care. It’s state-sponsored child trafficking.
Since 2014, children from occupied regions have been systematically abdukted, renamed, and placed with Russian families. Now, with updated laws, Russia can even alter their surnames and birthdays.
This isn’t just illegal—it’s a war crime.
At Save Ukraine, we’ve rescued over 750 children. But thousands are still out there.
📢 Watch this video. Share it. Raise your voice.
No child should be reduced to a clickable profile.
No child should be stripped of their identity and forced to forget who they are.
#BringKidsBackUA #SaveUkraine #StopRussia #ChildRights #ChildrenNotPawns #WarCrimes
Becky DeVito retweeted
Russia has proposed exchanging Russian prisoners of war for Ukrainian children who were abducted from the occupied territories.
The conditions put forward by the Russian side defy common sense, morality, and any Christian values.
I participated in the Minsk negotiations as the Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights. Even 10 years ago, representatives of the FSB sat across from me at the table. It was clear: they were acting under orders from the top — to create the illusion of negotiations, drag out the process for years, and bring no results. Even then, children were used as tools of pressure.
That is why we constantly emphasize on international platforms: Ukrainian children must be released unconditionally. Children are not currency, not trophies, and not a "humanitarian resource." They are people. They are Ukraine.
Becky DeVito retweeted
Russian occupiers are threatening Ukrainian prisoners of war with reprisals against their children — children who remain trapped in occupied territories. Families of POWs are offered a cruel deal: the promise of their loved ones’ survival in exchange for spreading propaganda on social media, painting a false picture of “good life” under Russian occupation.
We discussed these horrifying realities yesterday with Iryna Vereshchuk, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, during her visit to Save Ukraine’s Hope and Healing Center in Hatne.
Three women from the Mariupol garrison shared their personal stories. Captured by Russian forces, their children were left behind in occupied territories. Only the thought of their children gave them the strength to fight for their own survival — so they could one day bring their children home.
And they found us.
@SaveukraineUs was the only organization able to help rescue their children from occupation.
Each of these families has endured an incredibly difficult journey — from captivity and occupation to freedom.
Thanks to the active leadership of @IrynaVereshchuk , the courage of these survivors, and our joint efforts, we are now working on legislative changes. These changes will allow thousands of former POWs and rescued children to obtain documents, access housing, and rebuild their lives more quickly. Save Ukraine has developed a unique model to rescue children from occupation.
We have already brought home nearly 660 children. But our work doesn’t stop at rescue.
We support every child and every family through the full process of rehabilitation and reintegration.
And we believe that our growing partnership with the state will help us save many more Ukrainian children and families who still remain trapped under occupation.
#SaveUkraine #BringKidsBackUA
Becky DeVito retweeted
We did it. We opened the exhibition “The ART of HEALING” — a space where art helps children who’ve survived war feel alive again.
At Save Ukraine, we ask ourselves one main question every day: How can we help a child recover faster — and deeper?⬇️
Becky DeVito retweeted
On CNN, Jerry Heil: “It’s very important topic that isn’t discussed enough.”
Russia kidnapped over 30,000 Ukrainian children, and still not returned them home. Only 388 have returned home.
Please don’t ignore this. #AllEyesOnKids
Becky DeVito retweeted
U.S. security interests in helping Ukraine defeat Russia are clear.
(1) A Ukrainian victory will dramatically diminish the threat from Russia, allowing us to spend less on European defense and send fewer soldiers to NATO bases in the Baltics; THREAD 1/
Becky DeVito retweeted
I’ve been a Jewish activist for the better part of the last fifteen years. I started because I simply couldn’t stay silent. I knew that it’s not that people simply “didn’t get” Israel. I knew that there was something else, something deeper. A hidden force which was coordinating this slander against the world’s only Jewish state. And then I met @JSchanzer and was exposed to his work with @FDD and I was shocked.
Years ago, Jonathan had uncovered that this vitriol on campuses is a network of professionally coordinated heavily funded campaign by nefarious forces to delegitimize the state of Israel. To prepare the public opinion for the right moment take her down by all means necessary. I quoted Jonathan’s work in my book and have been speaking about this issue all over the country and the world for years, waiting for the right moment when the people will be ready to listen. Yesterday that moment had come.
I was honored to be invited to testify in front of the @WaysandMeansGOP on Capitol Hill about the connection between campus antisemitism and terrorism financing. The members were engaged and listened to us thoroughly for the four hours of the testimony. We have requested that the FBI and IRS will open an investigation into the organizations behind all this campus hate, specifically SJP and AMP. We have requested that SJP to be kicked off of campuses. We are requesting that people take a pause, before reciting a terrorist group’s talking point.
So now the real work begins.
אתמול היה לי הכבוד לתת עדות מול הקונגרס בנושא הקשר בין אנטישמיות בקמפוסים ומימון טרור. אנחנו יודעים מי מאחורי השנאה הזאת ולא נעצור עד שננצח אותם. ישראל חזקה גם בשטח גם מול חמאס וגם בחזית ההסברה.
@TaliaDror @JGreenblattADL @HillelIntl @israelcc @ADL
Becky DeVito retweeted
17-year-old Bohdan from #Mariupol , who was deported by the Russians to the Moscow region, was served with a summons. The boy has a few days left before he comes of age.
Bogdan Yermokhin has been an orphan since he was 8 years old. At first, his older sister was his guardian. But at the beginning of the full-scale war, the teenager was under the care of the director of the Mariupol college where he studied. In May 2022, the boy, along with 30 other students of the institution, was taken by the Russian military to occupied #Donetsk and eventually moved to a sanatorium in the Moscow region. Later, he was placed in the #Russian foster family of the Rudnytsky's.
All this time, Bohdan was trying to return to Ukraine, but the Russian authorities, and personally Lvova-Belova, prevented him from doing so. They justified this by saying that he was a minor and could not go anywhere on his own. The guy was waiting for his coming of age, which will happen soon, to return to Ukraine. But he received a summons.
The Russian authorities have not responded to his sister's appeals. Ms. Lvova-Belova herself denies in every possible way that anyone has contacted them. That is, they are simply stalling for time so that Bohdan has no chance of being rescued. As long as he is a minor, they won't let him go, and they are preventing him from getting his documents drawn up. As soon as he turns 18, they will immediately send him to war. And all this is under the cover of the Commissioner for Children's Rights, Lvova-Belova.
First, the Russians came to Bohdan's hometown and destroyed it. The boy was illegally transferred to the territory of the Russian Federation and forced to take Russian citizenship. They took away his phone, depriving him of the right to communicate, and forced him to participate in propaganda activities. Now they want to send the teenager to fight against Ukraine.
Thus, the boy became a victim and witness of several war crimes committed by Russians in the occupied territories: deportation, discrimination, persecution, violation of the right to preserve national identity, and delays in repatriation.
We must help Bohdan return to #Ukraine. Please share this post to make it more widely known.
P.S. This story is not an isolated one. There are thousands of people like Bohdan. Some have the courage and ability to fight, and some do not. That is why they are still under Russian propaganda.
📸 The Internet
Becky DeVito retweeted
If America goes down the road of abandoning Ukraine, future generations will condemn us for our shortsighted stupidity. If we unleash our country’s material might, we have the chance to save Ukraine and reverse Russia’s mad grasp at empire without American troops firing a shot — how grateful would U.S. World War II veterans have been for such an opportunity against Axis powers? How much tragedy and suffering could we have saved ourselves, and the world, if we’d had such a chance and wisely taken it?
Some Americans remember Saigon and Kabul and mistakingly believe that we can bail on Ukraine, too, and suffer nothing worse than wounded pride. But if those past experiences guide our thinking, it will lead us to ruin. Unlike the Taliban and the NVA, Russia is a global menace with a hunger for empire and military-industrialized mass murder — and other countries are taking notes.
Becky DeVito retweeted
Another example for my #RussiaLies series.
Russian state TV broadcast the footage of Moscow's strike on Ukrainian apartment block in Uman, but claimed it was showing Ukraine's shelling of Donbas.
youtube.com/watch?v=gGSYK8id…
Becky DeVito retweeted
In December 1991, Russia illegally usurped the USSR's seat in the United Nations Security Council. No legal procedures defined by the UN Charter were upheld. This gave Moscow a feeling of absolute impunity which led to numerous crimes. The UNSC will be better off without Russia.
Becky DeVito retweeted
In the 21st century, Afghanistan’s women are treated as though they aren’t human beings by the Taliban.
Imagine you were BANNED from studying, from working, from choosing how to dress or leaving the house alone etc.
What would you want the world to do? – at Islington, London
Becky DeVito retweeted
🧵In my speech "The Battle of Our Time" @PaasikiviS, I asked:
Do we grasp the magnitude of what's happening in #Ukraine? And what would be the price of failure?
This war isn't just about Ukraine but the rules-based world order and future security architecture of Europe. 1/12
Becky DeVito retweeted
Denazification. Demilitarisation. Protection of Donbas. Annexation. Mobilisation. Evacuation…
One may wonder if putin really does have a plan.
Yes, he does. His plan is to carry out a genocide of 🇺🇦.
To stop this genocide the world must act with resolve.
#StandWithUkraine️
Becky DeVito retweeted
Can you imagine a @UN where an aggressor is a permanent member of the UNSC,a nuclear terrorist is in IAEA, a child killer&abductor is in UNICEF,a destroyer of historic monuments is in UNESCO, a thief of crops is in WFP...
This is a UN with russia in it.
Why is russia still in UN?
