I’ve Helped Thousands Escape Occupied Ukraine. Russia Always Checks Your Phone.

• Stefan Vorontsov is a Ukrainian volunteer who secretly coaches those that wish to go away occupied Ukraine.
• He advised BI what it is prefer to evacuate and put together for scrutiny from border authorities.
• He stated the journey’s most tough leg is the border checkpoint, the place Ukrainians can get interrogated for six hours.

This as-told-to essay relies on a dialog with Stefan Vorontsov, a Ukrainian who fled Russian-occupied Nova Kakhovka in early 2022. His group, Humanity, has helped over 6,000 Ukrainians go away southern and jap Ukraine.

Vorontsov is making an attempt to lift consciousness of the scenario on the border, and restricted his interview to info that he says wouldn’t compromise evacuees’ security. The next has been edited for size and readability.

Ukrainians who wish to go away Russian occupation have just one path: Russia itself.

It is too harmful to cross the entrance line, so we should undergo both Crimea or Rostov-on-Don. Every one has a border checkpoint that offers Ukrainians entry to Russia, however they’re extremely tough to move by.

The Russian border authorities are always screening folks to catch pro-Ukraine partisans or punish these with household within the Ukrainian forces. One slip-up could imply you go to jail or by no means go away.

When a Ukrainian evacuee makes contact with us, we give them a “legend.” It is the pretend story we should create about why they wish to enter Russia, about their households and nationwide id, and about their previous.

For instance, sick folks can say they wish to go to a Russian hospital, and households can say they wish to go to the Black Sea and chill on the seaside.

It is quite a bit tougher for younger Ukrainian males, particularly those that are flagged by Russia for making pro-Ukraine posts on-line. For these folks, we have now to ensure their legend is powerful.

Usually, I take advantage of Telegram’s “secret chat” operate to message an evacuee fastidiously. I’ve to be delicate with what I inform them as a result of I do know that Russia could possibly learn each phrase I write.

The Russians search all the pieces about you

There are numerous causes Ukrainians didn’t flee earlier than the Russian military arrived. Many are sick. Many have youngsters. Regardless that the battle is in your doorstep, in your streets, it is so tough to make the choice to completely go away your property.

Over time, I’ve discovered that 95% of an evacuation’s success is dependent upon preparation earlier than the individual steps out the door.

Crucial factor Ukrainians should do is clear up their telephones.

The Russians examine all the pieces on the border checkpoint, and so they’re all the time searching for folks with pro-Ukrainian views.

Evacuees should put together that they may very well be interviewed for six hours on the border checkpoint, the place the guards will meticulously vet all the pieces about them: their telephones, their social media posts, and their search historical past.

Something associated to Ukraine can implicate you. Ukrainian phrases, textual content messages from relations, pictures of the Ukrainian flag, and even the colours of blue and yellow would possibly land you in bother. The guards can see when you preferred or subscribed to a pro-Ukraine social media channel.

Maps are particularly necessary to delete. The Russians don’t like maps, and so they assume you’ll use them for sending coordinates.

Photographs of buildings or metropolis areas may also be a lure as a result of they is perhaps labeled as proof of Russian positions.

The Russians will look by your telephone contacts and name historical past, and attempt to discover numbers from their database of pro-Ukraine folks or Ukrainian troopers. Even whether it is an unknown quantity to you, you’ll be able to nonetheless be caught if it is associated to somebody the Russians don’t love.

We additionally contemplate the kind of telephone our evacuees use. In the event that they use an Android telephone, it’s extremely simple for the Russians to get well quite a lot of their deleted information, like messages and pictures from the final two or three years.

To assist their case, we generally inform evacuees so as to add a little bit of Russian taste to their digital historical past by following sure Telegram channels or subscribing to pro-Russia YouTubers.

Surviving the checkpoint

Our group offers free evacuation to those that wish to escape, and we attempt to plan each step for them. We prepare for licensed bus drivers to take them to Crimea or Rostov-on-Don, and if they cannot make it themselves to the gathering level, we pay for taxis, meals, or hostel stays.

However we have now to compete with Russian drivers, who come from the east and supply determined Ukrainians journey into Russia for $400 a visit. We pay our drivers lower than $50 per individual.

On the border, the interviewers will attempt to provoke the evacuees. They may ask inquiries to make Ukrainians offended and catch them slipping in the event that they assist Ukraine.

That is the place an evacuee’s legend is so necessary.

If, for instance, their brother is within the Ukrainian navy, they need to by no means inform the Russians that. They need to attempt to speak about how they hate battle and fake to be as impartial as potential. Typically, it is helpful to say that they’re uninterested in the Ukrainian authorities.

The results of failing the checkpoint clearance may be nice. You may be caught in occupied Ukraine. Or you’ll be able to go to jail. Or they’ll ship you to a deep a part of Russia with out telling anybody.

Dozens of my buddies, colleagues, and evacuees have disappeared whereas making this journey, and I do not know the place they’re.

Outdated folks, youngsters, and the sick usually have a neater time, nevertheless it’s changing into quite a bit tougher to go away occupied Ukraine. After I left Ukraine in early 2022, it was 40 days after the Russians took Nova Kakhovka.

Again then, the Russians thought they’d take our nation shortly. They discovered pictures and knowledge on my telephone that exposed I used to be pro-Ukraine, however by some means I managed to lie my means by to Georgia. Now, they attempt to break all Ukrainians, even outdated grannies and moms.

Since January 2024, Russia has additionally required all Ukrainians to get a Russian passport for permission to cross the border. That is made our work much more tough, and it launched new issues. Boys and males, even these as younger as 15, get pressured to affix the Russian military once they apply for a passport.

If a Ukrainian can overcome all of those obstacles and move the border checkpoint, they’ll journey to Moscow. From there, they’ll take a prepare to Belarus or Europe and finally return to unoccupied Ukraine.

The complete course of takes about 4 days. As for myself, I needed to move a second checkpoint and undergo one other four-hour interview on my solution to Georgia, the place I stayed for six months. Now, I am in Western Europe serving to to coordinate evacuations.

We do not receives a commission for what we do. In 2024, my group helped to evacuate 360 Ukrainians, together with 106 youngsters, for a complete of $23,500. We additionally evacuated a horse and dozens of canine and cats.

We fundraise for prepare tickets, bus rides, and different evacuee bills. Now we have a mission — to save lots of the Ukrainian folks, to save lots of the Ukrainian nation. This mission is our driving drive, our gas.