Ukraine Reveals Covert Operation to Rescue Women, Children From Syrian ISIS Camps

A new documentary that premiered in Kyiv this weekend reveals a little-known Ukrainian intelligence operation that rescued dozens of women and children held for years in former Islamic State (ISIS) camps in Syria.

The film “10 Lost Years” was shown at a pre-premiere screening in Kyiv on Sunday, Dec. 14, attended by journalists, officials, and the film’s protagonists. A Kyiv Post journalist was present at the screening ahead of the film’s public release.

The documentary recounts a five-year covert operation led by Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) to repatriate 89 Ukrainian citizens, mostly women and children, from camps in northeastern Syria following the collapse of ISIS in 2019.

Ukraine is the only country to have returned all of its female citizens from the al-Hol and Roj camps who expressed a desire to come home.

Most of the women featured in the film are Crimean Tatars who left Ukraine after Russia’s 2014 occupation of Crimea, following their husbands to Syria after being influenced by ISIS propaganda promising the creation of a so-called Islamic caliphate.

Many later realized they had fallen into a trap but were unable to leave. Their children were exposed to executions, starvation during sieges, and years of life inside detention camps for ISIS widows.

Filming took place in Syria, Iraq and Ukraine, documenting both the women’s experiences and the intelligence work behind their extraction.

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Speaking at the screening, HUR representative Yevheniy Yerin described the operation as one of the most difficult missions undertaken by Ukrainian intelligence.

“The operation to bring our people back from Syria was extremely long,” Yerin said.

“Our officers worked under constant psychological pressure, uncertainty and direct risk to their lives, doing things many were afraid even to imagine. Many did not believe it was possible, but we did it. Human life must always remain the highest value.”

The film includes comments from intelligence officers who took part directly in the operation, as well as remarks by HUR chief Kyrylo Budanov. Several of the women rescued during the operation were also present at the screening.

The documentary was directed by war journalist Iryna Sampan, who said the project highlights how the consequences of Russia’s aggression extend far beyond Ukraine’s borders.

“When I learned that Ukrainian intelligence was rescuing women who had ended up in the Islamic State, I realized the scale of this operation,” Sampan said.

“Even here, we see the ripple effects of Russia’s occupation. These decisions were shaped by propaganda and displacement, making this story much closer to us than it might seem.”

Sampan added that the film avoided drawing conclusions for the audience. “This is a complex and uncomfortable topic,” she said.

“We tried not to draw conclusions for viewers, but to show the reality as it is.”

The mission relied on a mix of covert intelligence, diplomacy, and negotiation, with Ukraine’s intelligence services, the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, and several government and diplomatic bodies working together.

“10 Lost Years,” produced jointly by HUR, Hromadske Radio and the On the Front Line project, is set to be released publicly on YouTube on Dec. 15.