One day, Tania* woke up, packed her bags, and skipped town.
She had been planning it for a while. The bullying, abuse, and the daily torment of living in a country waging war on her homeland became too much.
"There wasn't a specific moment when I realised I didn't belong there. I felt it from day one," she said.
"It felt really wild emotionally, because I didn't feel comfortable staying there."
As a Ukrainian, Tania had felt stranded when her parents decided to relocate the family to Russia after Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of their country was launched in 2022.
The years of fighting have created a crisis among Ukrainian children.
According to the United Nations, an estimated 20,000 Ukrainian minors have been transferred to Russia.
Some are placed in so-called re-education camps, and others can be forcibly adopted into new families over the border.
New research conducted at Yale University concluded that "Russia is operating a potentially unprecedented system of large-scale re-education, military training" of young children.
Some were orphans after having both parents killed during the invasion, while others were simply taken from their loved ones.
That number gets even bigger when you include people who were in Tania's situation.
She is now 18 and arrived in Russia with her parents in 2022, aged 15.
Their hometown in Ukraine's Donbas region was captured by Russia's army.
But since living under Putin's regime, she said her parents have become "brainwashed".
"We had friends in Russia, so the plan was just to wait it out. Later, we realised we'd be staying much longer than we expected," Tania said.
Tania has said her parents had become indoctrinated by Russian state-run media and ignored her pleas for the family to return to Ukraine.
"I did not tell my parents about the bullying because I knew they had been brainwashed. Russian propaganda had affected them," she said.
"Whenever I tried to discuss political issues, my parents just didn't want to hear it or accept common sense. They didn't believe in it.
"I didn't go to them when I was bullied, because I knew the answer would be that it was somehow my fault, that maybe I didn't say 'glory to Russia', or something like that."
After immigrating, Tania said she was subjected to regular abuse.
"There was a guy, much bigger and more muscular than me, who liked to torment me just because I was from Ukraine. He used to yell horrible things in my ear," she said.
On one occasion, she said this bully tortured a dog in front of her to prove a point.
"I normally didn't react to him because I didn't know how to stand up for myself," Tania said.
"I was afraid he'd hit me. But when he kicked the dog, I couldn't take it. I yelled at him, asking what he was doing.
"Look, I'm great Russia, he said, and that's Ukraine, so I'm hitting it."
'I cried nearly the entire night'
Fleeing Russia as a Ukrainian can be extremely dangerous. Many are interrogated, imprisoned, or even killed trying to re-enter the country.
Tania said it was a risk she was willing to take.
"The border crossing wasn't like other countries, where they just check your bags and passport. Crossing from Russia during the war, as a Ukrainian, is much more dangerous," she said.
"I even feared not being allowed to leave at all. I'd heard stories of girls being held for three days, starved at checkpoints."
Tania said she lied to border officials and told them she was a travelling student returning to university in Europe and that she would only pass through Kyiv.
She said Russian officials interrogated her, but Tania said they released her after a few hours and told her to walk across the border.
"It was terrifying. But they let me go, and I cried nearly the entire night. When I had to cross the Ukrainian border the next morning, my eyes were swollen from crying," she said.
"You have to walk across the border alone, over a broken road, dragging your heavy suitcase. No-one is allowed to help you. But that moment felt easier, because it meant I was finally free. They let me go. I was free to go wherever I wanted," she said.
She has now settled in Kyiv, where she has a boyfriend and enjoys coffee dates and exploring the city's art scene, despite regular, deadly aerial attacks from Moscow.
But she continues to worry about the thousands of Ukrainian children still in Russia, many of whom have been taken there against their will.
"Their identity is being erased. I know for sure, kids who have wanted to leave but did not have enough courage. They broke under the weight of propaganda," she said.
"It's heartbreaking to see kids in occupied territories being marched in parades, or like that recent North Korean-style parade.
"Everyone laughed at it, but those are our children. They're being brainwashed. I know a classmate who lost her father to a missile strike. She spent the entire summer of 2022 in a basement because she was in an active war zone.
"And after all of that, they sent her to a camp where she was indoctrinated in Russia."
The Ukrainian government has described it as a mass abduction and has found an ally in the United States' first lady, Melania Trump, who recently wrote to Russia's president, asking him to protect the innocence of the children of war.
At this week's United Nations General Assembly in New York, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been using his sideline bilateral meetings to raise awareness on the issue.
As part of his efforts, it has been highlighted that despite thousands of Ukrainian children now being in Russia and the territory its military occupies, only about 1,600 have been returned to date.
Olena Rozvadovska, the founder of Voices For Children, a Ukraine-based not-for-profit that provides a haven for young people who have escaped Russia, said that many of the children in her care have experienced severe abuse.
"They also feel very isolated and that they can't trust anyone," she said, adding that even after the war ends, children will be suffering from post-traumatic stress for a lifetime.
"We pray the war ends, but the needs of the children won't end. In fact, they will only become more … we know trauma may not come straight away; in fact, it may come much later in life. So we need to ensure we are prepared and have services in place," she said.
*Not her real name
