Ottawa- Sixteen-year-old Jayden Brevs says he chose to travel to Ukraine and Swayamsevak for a humanitarian support group working in a war zone because they feel that young people need to take steps when others are suffering.
Braves, who are from Toronto and are the founder of the young politicians of Canada, were in Kiev for about two weeks in July. He told the Canadian Press that he was there to support the organization Sev Ukraine, which organizes the rescue mission to return the Ukrainian children taken by Russia.
“It has pushed me to enter the battlefield for the first time,” he said. “I think it’s about it to be completely humble and saying that you are ready, you know, put yourself at risk for something that you understand is very important for more and more good.”
A team of experts from Yale University has speculated that more than 35,000 Ukrainian children may be held in Russia and its occupied areas.
It is feared that it is taken by many Russian forces and sent for military camps or foster care, or adopted by Russian families.
Braves said that when he was in Ukraine, he met Canadian and Austrian Ambassadors and other officials, to see how countries such as Canada and European Union can support Ukraine, especially for foreign aid in view of American cuts.
“It is slowly about to find out how we can succeed in ensuring Ukraine’s victory and can ensure that 30,000 children have been incorrectly kidnapped and are experiencing sexual exploitation and are experiencing militaryization and brainwashing can be brought to the house,” Braves reported on Tuesday. “
Braves said that he also participated in an opposing protest in Kiev and met with the youth who have been saved by Sev Ukraine to listen to their stories.
He said that he spoke to the people of England and New Zealand who are doing human work in the country.
“We have definitely worked on finding out where there is an opportunity to cooperate,” he said.
The Canadian website says Canada has committed $ 6.5 billion in military aid since the early 2022. It has also been said that Canada has allocated over $ 585 million in development aid and $ 372.2 million in humanitarian aid to Ukraine and neighboring countries.
Brews said he is working to find out how Canada can effectively roll that support for Ukraine.
He said that before Kiev left, he attended various conferences in other European countries for about a month, including the United Nations Ocean Summit in UNE and the Globesch Forum in Prague. He said that he visited Cambridge, UK to deliver lectures and to work on data projects and Georgia to host an English leadership camp.
Braves said Kiev’s journey was long and included a 17 -hour train ride from Poland. He said that when he stayed in an apartment most of the time in Kiev, he spent two nights at an underground metro station filled with citizens who sheltered from Russian airstrikes.
Braves said that being in Kiev allowed them to “incredibly lively” Ukrainian culture and the country’s strength.
He said, “I have seen a story of flexibility when there is a fire in a country that it simply decides that they will not take the missiles as an excuse to go out of the land that they call the house,” they said.
“I think democracy and Western civilization have been the best representation of successful society as we know, and it should be preserved, and it is forced to find me enough to find out how I can help.”
Braves said he was inspired to attend the NATO Summit in Washington as a representative of NATO Canada in 2024.
“I was enlightened to a global movement to protect the advance lines of democracy,” he said. “That NATO summit really woke me up to the need to commit to Ukraine and I saw the efforts that are putting in Canada.”
Braves stated that Canada Ukrainian is the coalition coalition coalition for children’s return and as a Canadian, he also felt responsible for that work.
Braves said it was working on forming an alliance of young Canadian people to press for the return of Ukrainians taken by Russia. He said that he is in touch with the office of External Affairs Minister Anita Anand, to discuss how Canada can help bring those children home.
“I am eager to come back to Canada and continue to ensure that Canada can cooperate further with Ukraine,” Braves said.
“We need to support other youth as youth who are in very serious situations like other places in the world where we are seeing humanitarian crisis. This is definitely one of them.”
This report of Canadian Press was first published on 31 July 2025.
Catherine Morrison, Canadian Press
