Crime Scene: Bucha/After Zero Tolerance

>> NARRATOR: Now, a special edition of FRONTLINE.

First, from the war in Ukraine... >> More horrific revelations surface from Bucha, Ukraine... >> NARRATOR: In collaboration with The Associated Press and SITU research, an exclusive visual investigation... >> More evidence of Russian atrocities from Putin's invasion... >> NARRATOR: Eyewitness accounts, surveillance video and 3D data.

>> Okay, so, so far, you'’ve got one, two, three, four, five, six bodies?

>> NARRATOR: Mapping the atrocities in the town of Bucha.

>> Ukrainian officials say Russian forces left behind a quote, "“scene from a horror movie.

"” >>NARRATOR: And later >> President Joe Biden takes executive action on immigration.

>> Creating a task force aimed at reunited children... >> NARRATOR: After being separated... >> In many of these cases the children are here in the United States and the parent has been removed.

>> NARRATOR: A family'’s struggle to reunite...

These two stories on this special edition of FRONTLINE.

(phone dialing out) >> WOMAN (in Russian): >> SOLDIER (in Russian): >> WOMAN: >> SOLDIER: >> WOMAN: >> SOLDIER: (dramatic music playing, explosion) >> ERIKA KINETZ: At the start of the invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces expected to take the capital Kyiv within days.

(explosion) >> REPORTER: Explosions rocking several cities, including the capitol of Kyiv.

>> REPORTER: And there's little stopping Russia from threatening the capital Kyiv itself.

(rapid gunfire) >> KINETZ: But poor coordination and fierce Ukrainian resistance stalled the ground assault, causing a buildup of Russian troops in outlying towns like Bucha.

After a monthlong occupation, the Russians retreated.

>> REPORTER: Russia's withdrawal has revealed what looked more like crime scenes than the aftermath of battle.

>> KINETZ: They left behind evidence of war crimes that shocked the world.

>> REPORTER: Bodies bearing signs of torture and rape.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> KINETZ: I went to Bucha not long after the bodies were discovered, with my colleague, A.P.

videographer Sasha Stashevskyi.

Sasha.

>> Yeah?

>> KINETZ: He was based in Kyiv, and was one of the first journalists to arrive on the scene in early April after the Russian retreat.

We headed down a main thoroughfare called Yablunska Street, to a focal point of the killings, a nondescript office building that had become a de facto headquarters for the Russians during the occupation.

And what's the address of this building?

>> Yablunska 144.

♪ ♪ And here was... eight bodies.

Some of them was clearly shoot in the head.

tied hands.

And some of them had like eyes was... >> KINETZ: Blindfolded eyes.

>> Yeah.

Blindfolded eyes.

>> KINETZ: Yeah.

Sasha had documented what looked like the point blank execution of eight men and more bodies would keep turning up in Bucha.

♪ ♪ In the months since then, "Frontline," the A.P., and the visual investigations firm SITU Research obtained and reviewed hundreds of hours of CCTV footage, intercepts of Russian phone calls, and spoke with survivors and witnesses to show what happened in Bucha, and try to identify who was responsible.

♪ ♪ To better understand the scale of the atrocities, and how the violence unfolded, we built a comprehensive 3D model of Bucha.

It was based on data collected by a team of Ukrainian citizen researchers.

Bucha authorities say they recovered the bodies of more than 450 men, women, and children.

Nearly all of them showed signs of violent death.

We mapped where the bodies were found.

Each beacon represents the location of a victim, and each death, a potential war crime.

♪ ♪ The largest concentration of bodies-- nearly 40-- was recovered along Yablunska Street; which runs east to west in an industrial section of town.

We met with survivors along Yablunksa Street and beyond.

♪ ♪ (birds twittering) Natalia Vlasenko and her family lived just off Yablunska Street.

In early March, her 20-year-old grandson, Dima Chaplyhin, a store clerk, filmed the Russians arriving from this second floor terrace.

>> (in Ukrainian, crying): >> KINETZ: Dima wasn't the only one recording.

One private home on Yablunska Street was outfitted with six security cameras.

(gunshots) In the footage that we obtained, from March 3, Ukrainian soldiers try to hold off the Russian advance before retreating.

Soon after, dozens of Russian troops and vehicles marked with the letter V take over the street and continue to pour in.

By March 4, the occupation of Bucha was nearly complete.

That's when the Russians came for Dima.

>> (crying): >> KINETZ: Dima was rounded up as part of a Russian operation known as "zachistka" or cleansing.

Soldiers searched and interrogated everyone in the area to root out threats and terrorize locals into submission.

The CCTV footage offers a rare view of the Russian sweeps as they unfolded.

Some people were escorted with their belongings, even pets.

Others were taken by force, including this man who was gagged and pleading.

(man begging indistinctly) Russian soldiers brought people to their base at 144 Yablunska.

The building had been used as a bomb shelter before Russians took it over as their headquarters and base for interrogations.

They also set up a field hospital and held civilians who didn't pose a threat in the basement.

As the Russian sweeps continued, CCTV cameras also captured these nine men, including taxi driver Ivan Skyba, being led to 144 at gunpoint.

>> (in Ukrainian): >> KINETZ: When the Russians invaded, Ivan said that he and other volunteers had been manning one of three checkpoints set up along this stretch of Yablunska.

As troops advanced, volunteers from the other checkpoints escaped.

Ivan and his group hid in this nearby house before they were captured.

(computer mouse clicking) These are two different CCTV cameras, both of which are across the street from 144 Yablunska.

So we have two different angles on Ivan and the other guys being marched across the street.

(shouting on video) So the Russians are shouting at them, "To the (bleep) right, to the right, dumbass.

Where are you going?

To the (bleep) right."

And there they go off to the right, to 144 Yablunska.

>> SKYBA: ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (inhales deeply, sighs) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> KINETZ: Ivan said he waited for his moment.

Despite a head injury and gunshot to the abdomen, he managed to escape to this nearby house.

Within an hour, more Russian soldiers sweeping the area found him.

This time, they believed he was an injured civilian, and brought him back to 144, not to be tortured or killed, but to give him medical treatment.

>> SKYBA: >> KINETZ: On March 7, Ivan and the civilians sheltering in the basement were finally released.

The bodies of the men executed in the courtyard outside still lay on the ground, where they would remain for weeks.

That same day, after hearing that civilians were being let out, Natalia Vlasenko set out to 144 Yablunska to find her grandson Dima.

>> NATALIA (crying): >> KINETZ: But Dima was not among the civilians released.

Natalia would have to wait.

♪ ♪ The violence spread far beyond Yablunska Street.

When the occupation of Bucha turned from days to weeks, troops unable to reach Kyiv faced mounting losses, and they became more erratic and unpredictable.

(clattering) >> WOMAN (on phone, in Russian): >> SOLDIER (on phone, in Russian): >> KINETZ: In phone calls intercepted by the Ukrainian government, that we verified with the help of the Dossier Center in London, Russian soldiers admitted to killing civilians.

>> SOLDIER (on phone, in Russian): (phone dialing out) >> SOLDIER (on phone, in Russian): ♪ ♪ >> WOMAN (in Ukrainian): >> (in Ukrainian): >> KINETZ: They also took over people's homes.

Security cameras from inside this residence on Yablunska Street show soldiers playing with the lights, doing laundry, even chasing a dog.

They eventually discover the cameras and shoot them out.

Outside, on the streets and fields of Bucha, more bodies started to appear.

Those who were not able to flee hid inside their houses, including Natalia Vlasenko and her husband, Pavlo.

They stayed behind trying to find out what happened to their grandson Dima.

Near the end of March, Natalia said Russian troops returned to their house.

>> NATALIA: >> KINETZ: They began interrogating her husband, Pavlo, after discovering their son's military cap in a closet.

>> NATALIA (crying): (exhales, sniffles) ♪ ♪ >> KINETZ: By the end of the month, Russian forces gave up on their attack on Kyiv and pulled out of Bucha.

♪ ♪ Day by day, people found more bodies-- of their friends, families, and neighbors.

♪ ♪ >> (speaking Ukrainian, sobbing) >> KINETZ: Soon after Natalia buried her husband, Dima's body was discovered on the grounds of 144 Yablunska Street.

(sobbing) >> NATALIA: ♪ ♪ >> KINETZ: Dima was just one of the hundreds of bodies found throughout Bucha.

The full scale of the horrors, more than 450 deaths, wouldn't be known for months.

♪ ♪ What happened along Yablunska Street is now case number one for Ukraine's war crimes prosecutors.

Taras Semkiv from the Prosecutor General's Office is in charge of the case.

>> SEMKIV (in Ukrainian): >> KINETZ: Oh, God...

These poor people.

>> SEMKIV: >> KINETZ: What do you think the odds are of you getting any of the people responsible for the atrocities at 144 Yablunska into an actual court of law and prosecuting them in a court?

>> SEMKIV: >> KINETZ: Semkiv said that those responsible for what happened to Ivan, Dima, and others on March 4 were from Russia's 76th Guards Airborne Assault Division.

>> SEMKIV: >> KINETZ: Those commanders are Major General Sergei Chubarykin, and his boss, Colonel General Alexander Chaiko.

♪ ♪ Ukrainian prosecutors are pursuing the generals for their roles in leading the invasion of Ukraine.

But they are still gathering evidence that could link them to specific crimes, like 144 Yablunska.

♪ ♪ The International Criminal Court in The Hague is also investigating potential war crimes cases.

♪ ♪ Bucha was a turning point, when the world called for accountability.

But with the war in Ukraine still raging, it is too early to say who will be held accountable for what happened in Bucha and beyond.

♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: Coming up next on this special edition of FRONTLINE... >> Some of the parents are currently separated with a child in the United States and the parent back in the country of origin.

And those parents want to come back to the United States to be with their kids.

>> NARRATOR: Following on family'’s long journey to be together once again... >> I'’m afraid that something might happened to them, and they might not come.

>> NARRATOR: "After Zero Tolerance" starts right now... ♪ ♪ >> ANAVELIS: Pues, uno toma la decisión aquí, pero no sabe lo que le va a pasar durante el trayecto para llegar allá.

Y nunca pensé lo que me esperaba.

Llegando allá, se convirtió en un infierno.

En una pesadilla que ha estado martirizándome todos estos años.

Cuando ya llegamos a migración, nos metieron en un lugar muy helado, le dicen la hielera, solo para darme la noticia de que estaban separando familias.

Ella no quería soltarse.

Como ellos atrás de mí, los policías, <« Suéltala, suéltala >».

Entonces ella me decía, <« Mami, te amo >».

Y esas palabras todo el tiempo me han lastimado, con las palabras que ella me decía.

Y de ahí se la llevaron.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Regresé de allá como traumada.

Entonces, yo pasé como un año, yo no salía de mi casa.

>> OSCAR GUERRA: I began talking to Anavelis in the summer of 2021.

Hola, Anavelis, ¿cómo estás?

Mucho gusto de conocerte, aunque sea por telefono ahorita.

>> ANAVELIS: Sí, mucho gusto.

>> GUERRA: It was three years since she was separated from her daughter, Genesis, and sent back to Honduras.

I was looking into the stories of families who had been separated at the border under the Trump administration's tough immigration policies, like Zero Tolerance.

Many families had been reunited, but hundreds of parents like Anavelis were still living apart from their kids, looking for a way to get back to them.

>> ANAVELIS: Cuando me quitaron la niña, los otros policías me decían, <« Aquí no se aceptan lloretas >».

¿Cómo quiere que una madre se quede feliz después de que le arrancan a su hijo?

Y decía que no quería lloretas, si es lo normal.

Era lo único que podíamos hacer, llorar.

Siempre, no hubo un día en que yo dejara de pensar en ella, qué almorzaba, si estará bien tapada, Si no se va caer de la cama.

Todo eso eran mis pensamientos.

♪ ♪ >> GUERRA: One, two, three testing.

One, two, three.

When I first met Genesis more than a year ago, she was living in Kentucky with her Aunt Xiomara.

>> XIOMARA: Ella a veces se pone a llorar y dice: <« Tía, ¿y mi mami cuándo va a venir?

>» <« Va a venir >», le digo yo, <« nada más que espere >».

Pero ella comprende muchas cosas.

Parece que fuera ya adulta, pero sí comprende bastante.

>> GUERRA: Me dijiste que estabas con tu mamá y un señor las separó.

Platícame otra vez de eso.

>> GENESIS: Cuando me separaron de mi mamá, me mandó a mí a unas diferentes familias.

Que cada familia que me mandaban, me quedaba por unos días.

Y después me mandaron a la última familia.

Y después, cuando ya se acabó el día de estar con esa familia, una muchacha que se llama Bárbara me vino a traer y me llevó al aeropuerto.

>> GUERRA: Pero estabas bien chiquita.

¿Te acuerdas de todo eso?

>> GENESIS: Tenía seis años.

>> GUERRA: Regresaron a tu mami a Honduras.

¿Y qué te decía tu mamá?

>> GENESIS: Que me quería mucho y dijo que me iba a volver a ver.

Un día yo le hablé llorando porque no la podía mirar.

>> GUERRA: Y esa vez que lloraste, ¿por qué lloraste?

>> GENESIS: Porque mi mami ya había llegado en Honduras y yo pensaba que ella todavía estaba aquí.

>> GUERRA: ¿Por qué pensabas que estaba aquí?

>> GENESIS: Porque yo pensé primero: no me dijeron que la iban a mandar para Honduras.

Sólo me dijeron que ella se tenía que ir a un lado, pero no me dijeron.

>> GUERRA: ¿Y todavía no sabías que tu mami ya había regresado?

>> GENESIS: Yo no sabía, pero ahora sí sé.

>> GUERRA: Genesis was held in government custody for about a month, before being released to go live with her father, José... >> Gene!

>> GUERRA: ...who had come to the U.S. a few years earlier.

They were together for seven months while Anavelis was trying to figure out what to do.

But soon José was deported.

>> ANAVELIS: Pero en eso de que José fue detenido, ya todo cambió.

Y ya nos quedamos pausados, solos los dos en la casa.

Para mí no había tranquilidad porque yo quería estar con ella, porque no me quería dar por vencido porque no quería regresar a Honduras, porque yo salí con ella de mi casa y regresar sola, la mente sólo me daba.

Lo que me interesaba era estar con ella para cuidarla y era lo que yo quería.

>> GUERRA: BY the time I was talking to Anavelis and Genesis, lawyers and activists were already working to try to help reunite families like them that were still separated.

(protesters chanting) >> ...no fear!

>> Immigrants are welcome here!

>> ...no fear!

>> Revolt!

Revolt!

Revolt!

Resistance is not enough!

>> GUERRA: The A.C.L.U.

's Lee Gelernt led the legal effort.

He was behind the lawsuit demanding an end to the separations, and in 2018, the Trump administration was ordered to reunite families.

>> Amazingly, they didn't even keep records.

When we wanted to reunite the families, we asked the administration, the Trump administration, for a list of, of the names.

At one point, they said, "It will take two years "for us to recreate the list.

"We will have to go manually through thousands of files because we simply didn't keep track."

I mean that is beyond shocking.

>> GUERRA: After Gelernt's lawsuit, many parents who were still in the U.S. got their children back.

But those who were already out of the country, like Anavelis, were left waiting.

>> The Trump administration said to the judge, "Well, if the parents are already out of the country, "if they're gonna be part of the case, we are not going to find these parents."

♪ ♪ >> GUERRA: Gelernt helped put together a network of attorneys and investigators who spent years scouring Central America and elsewhere, tracking down hundreds of parents who had been deported without their kids.

>> WOMAN: ¿Usted conoce a Georgina?

>> MAN: Ella está acá.

>> There are about 1,000 families who were deported.

So some of the parents are currently separated with a child in the United States and the parent back in the country of origin.

And those parents want to come back to the United States to be with their kids.

>> GUERRA: I spoke to Cathleen Caron, a human rights lawyer, who helped in the search for the parents.

>> When they were found, as part of the process, they were given the option: do you want your child to be returned to you, or do you want your child to remain in the United States?

So it was a very difficult choice these parents had to take.

>> GENESIS: Este TikTok me gustó.

>> GUERRA: That was the kind of choice that Anavelis and Xiomara struggled with.

>> XIOMARA: Anavelis quería que la niña se la mandaran para allá, pero yo no quise.

(both laughing) Yo le dije que no porque la niña aquí tenía más futuro que allá, porque allá muchas cosas pasan.

>> GUERRA: ¿Entonces fue tu labor convencerla de que se quedara mejor aquí?

>> XIOMARA: Costó, porque ella lloraba, <« Xiomara, mándame la niña >».

Le digo yo, y le ponía pretexto yo: <« No, que no hay dinero para un pasaje.

No, y me da miedo mandarla >».

<« Mándala con alguien >», me decía ella, me rogaba que la mandara.

Pero no, no la mandamos.

>> GUERRA: ¿Una decisión difícil para ti, no?

>> XIOMARA: Sí, si yo hasta lloraba de verla a ella, pero yo que no quería que se la llevaran para allá.

<« Algún día vas a volver y la vas a ver >», le dije.

>> ANAVELIS: Todo este tiempo lo hemos pasado en suspenso, sólo dándole tiempo al tiempo a ver qué pasaba.

Porque decían que me la iban a mandar, igual habían muchos inconvenientes, por una y otra cosa no pasó.

Prácticamente ya ahorita tres años y medio, se me hizo... Bueno, hablando con abogados, ellos me mantenían con esperanzas que teníamos la posibilidad, de que podíamos legar allá.

>> GUERRA: In early 2021, they got their chance... >> In a move to reverse what he calls the "national shame" of the previous administration... >> Over three years have passed since the Trump administration started separating thousands of migrant children from their parents... >> The president established a border task force that aims to reunite... >> GUERRA: Two weeks after taking office, the Biden administration formed a task force that would help bring parents back to the U.S. >> With the first action today, we're gonna work to undo the moral and national shame of the previous administration that literally, not figuratively, ripped children from the arms of their families, their mothers and fathers at the border, and with no plan, none whatsoever, to reunify the children who are still in custody and, and their parents.

>> GUERRA: The Department of Homeland Security was running the task force.

Michelle Brane was put in charge.

>> This really is an unprecedented operation, to be looking at harm that was done.

And going back and really looking for the people involved and reunifying those families, in order to provide them with the ability to be together and work forward from the harm that was inflicted.

♪ ♪ >> GUERRA: Anavelis and José were among the first parents to be put on the task force's list.

>> JOSÉ: Una abogada que me contactó a mí, que nos iban a regresar para Estados Unidos para que nos reuniéramos con Genesis.

>> ANAVELIS: Y ya, por fin ya estamos en las últimas ya.

Gene, ¿cómo te sientes porque nos vas a ver pronto, porque vamos a estar juntos?

>> GENESIS: Feliz.

Feliz.

>> JOSÉ: Pero ya poquito falta, hija.

>> GENESIS: Agosto.

>> GUERRA: But August passed and no reunion took place.

>> Every adult has one in Honduras... >> GUERRA: I talked to Ann Garcia, a pro bono lawyer who was helping the family navigate the bureaucracy in both the U.S. and Honduras.

>> That's what we thought.

We thought she would be back, you know, a month ago.

But sometimes, you know, you just get these, um... you just get, you know, these issues just like present themselves.

In Anavelis's case, she... at this point, she has her ID.

The hold up, really, is with the Honduran government's processing of her husband's ID and passport.

Of course, he had an ID, but there was an error on it, a spelling error.

That process has been very frustrating, to be completely honest.

>> GENESIS: A veces yo le llamo mamá de accidente y a mi mami le llamo tía.

Yo creo que me confundo porque ha vivido con mi tía más y con mi mami no.

Ay, qué frío.

>> XIOMARA: Yo estaba pensando, digo yo, <« estoy aquí con ella, pero ya cuando Ana venga, ya no va a estar conmigo >».

Y ella es la alegría de aquí, de la casa.

♪ ♪ A veces me ponía a pensar y digo yo <« mejor que no venga, que esté conmigo >».

Pero no es.

Ella es más, ella necesita a su mamá y a su papá juntos.

>> GUERRA: ¿Cada cuanto viene Genesis aquí?

>> XIOMARA: Los sábado que la traigo.

Porque dice: <« Tía, voy a trabajar con usted >», entonces yo me la traigo.

A veces se queda en el carro allá, en el carro del patrón.

O si no es en carro, ella anda aquí con nosotros.

Lo que yo le digo, que sea alguien en la vida, ¿no?

Yo no quiero que trabaje como yo, le digo.

Usted estudie y para que usted tenga un buen futuro, le digo yo.

Porque mire como yo trabajo.

¿Y por qué cree?

Porque yo no estudié.

Ni a la escuela quise ir.

(sighs) Allá, en Honduras, no, no puede alcanzar sus sueños porque es bien difícil.

Pero aquí sí, aquí sí.

♪ ♪ >> GUERRA: Over several months, Anavelis and José made multiple trips to the city of San Pedro Sula to try to fix the spelling error in José's passport.

>> ANAVELIS: Ya por fin tenemos el pasaporte de José.

Gracias a Dios.

>> You think when you start a case, and you hope really that it will take no time at all for it to be approved.

Certainly in conversations with these families, I try to make them aware that the process could take several months, that there's no guarantee that they'll be approved.

But the government looks at each of these cases individually.

And so I think, you know, of course, Genesis, she, she was put in a position where she had to be resilient.

>> GENESIS: Hola, mami.

>> And, and she was.

>> ANAVELIS (on phone): Hola.

>> She went to school... >> ANAVELIS: Princesa.

>> She got used to her new life... >> ANAVELIS: Te queremos mucho y te extrañamos.

>> Used to being mothered by phone and by video calls from Anavelis, who was in Honduras.

>> ANAVELIS: Y esperamos ya que en unas dos, tres semanas podamos estar juntas, lo que hemos deseado durante todos estos tres años.

>> GENESIS: Yo también la extraño.

Dígale a mi papi que yo también lo quiero.

>> ANAVELIS: Sí, él sabe que usted lo quiere mucho.

>> GUERRA: ¿Cómo te sientes cuando hablas con tu mamá?

>> GENESIS: Me siento triste porque a veces me dice que la voy a volver a ver otra vez, pero no creo.

>> GUERRA: ¿Qué no crees?

>> GENESIS: Que venga.

>> GUERRA: ¿No crees que vaya a venga?

¿Por qué?

>> GENESIS: Porque dijeron que en agosto iban a venir y no vinieron.

Por eso.

♪ ♪ >> GUERRA: Once José got his passport corrected, things happened quickly.

Within weeks, he and Anavelis were told to come to the capital, Tegucigalpa, to be photographed and fingerprinted.

>> ANAVELIS: Estaba ahí haciendo la cena y de repente me cayó la llamada de la muchacha y me agarró de repente porque no pensé que iba a salir pronto, la abogada nos decía que nos viniéramos de un solo, con maletas y todo ya listos para viajar para allá, para Estados Unidos.

>> GUERRA: Like other families being reunited through the Biden administration's task force, Anavelis and José were given documents allowing them to live and work in the U.S. for three years while applying for asylum or some other more permanent status.

>> We really were looking for what we could do within our legal authorities to provide families with some way to be reunified physically, not just in their home country, but here in the United States.

Because in many of these cases, the children are here in the United States and the parent has been removed.

And in doing so, we decided upon parole, humanitarian parole, and parole in place.

Which what that provides is legal authority for a recipient to be in the country during a stated period of time.

>> GUERRA: What happens to these families after that... after that limit?

>> So at the end of three years, families can request an extension of parole, so that will be available to families.

And in the meantime, we encourage Congress, and have asked Congress to help us in providing for some legal status for these families and we welcome their action on that.

♪ ♪ >> GUERRA: For Anavelis and José, it had been nearly six months since they started their application to come to the U.S. By December, they were set to leave.

>> ANAVELIS (crying): Cuesta mucho despedirse.

Igual con los papás de José fue duro, porque ellos han sido como otros papás para mí.

>> WOMAN: Ay mi amorcito precioso, ahí cuídese mucho, oiga.

>> JOSÉ: Ya uno en Estados Unidos, no se sabe cuánto tiempo va a tener para no verlo, ¿verdad?

Peor porque nosotros somos unidos.

♪ ♪ >> GUERRA: They headed to San Pedro Sula to wait for their flight to the United States.

>> ANAVELIS: Sí, estoy nerviosa.

Sí porque algo planeado, y emocionante.

Pues, si estoy nerviosa.

Buenos días.

(knocking on door) >> XIOMARA: Genesis!

Levántate.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> GENESIS: I'm afraid that something might happen to them and they might not come.

When they get to the airport, they might send them back to Honduras.

♪ ♪ >> XIOMARA: Aquí la esperamos aquella vez.

>> GENESIS: ¿Aquí?

¿En este mismo espacio?

>> XIOMARA: ¿No se acuerda?

>> GENESIS: ¿Aquí?

¿En este mismo espacio?

Son las cinco y tres.

>> ANAVELIS: Pues no sé si, si va a pasar, de quedarme así o no sé, reaccionar de manera diferente, no sé.

>> GENESIS: Emily, touch my heart, (chuckling): it's beeping so...

I don't know if you can't feel it, but... >> I can!

>> GENESIS: Oh my God... >> JOSÉ: Allá están.

>> XIOMARA: Viene, viene.

(continues indistinctly in Spanish) (both sobbing) >> ANAVELIS: Mi niña hermosa.

(crying continues) >> JOSÉ: ¿Como estás, hija?

Ahora sí ya vas a estar con nosotros, ¿eh?

>> XIOMARA: Ya, mira, ya estuvo.

>> ANAVELIS: Ya estuvo mi milagro.

♪ ♪ >> GUERRA: Seven months later, in the summer of 2022, I went back to Kentucky to see how the family was adjusting to their new life.

>> ANAVELIS: Me he acoplado bien, gracias a Dios.

Siempre hay un poco de tristeza, porque uno dejó la familia allá y todo eso lo pone a uno a veces que se pone a pensar y todo eso.

(Anavelis and Genesis talking) >> One.

>> Dos.

>> Three.

(laughing) >> Tres is three.

When I teach her English, I tell her to repeat the words without me and she does them good.

>> Three.

Four.

Five.

(truck beeping) >> GUERRA: Y cuéntame del trabajo.

¿Qué estás haciendo, a qué te dedicas?

>> ANAVELIS: Vamos a varios trabajos.

Vamos días a la carpintería, días al concreto y días a la pintura.

Trabajo de lunes a viernes, porque el sábado no voy para estar con Genesis.

Sí, tengo un final feliz, pero no sabemos lo que va a pasar más allá.

Pero yo me concentro solo en lo que estoy viviendo que estoy con ellos.

Y es lo más importante para nosotros, no estar separados.

La deuda que tengo con Xiomara, y que pienso que nunca se la voy a poder pagar, es que me la cuidó como que si hubiera sido hija de ella.

>> XIOMARA: Me hace falta, pero gracias a Dios ya está con sus padres, que es lo más importante para ella.

>> GUERRA: As of November 2022, the Biden administration's task force had reunited 540 children with their parents.

But hundreds still remain separated.

>> ANAVELIS: A veces no me la creo estar aquí.

Y he llorado, no de tristeza, sino que me pega de emoción, se me hace algo increíble de que yo pueda estar acá y que estemos aquí.

♪ ♪ >> Go to pbs.org/frontline to see more of our reporting on the war in Ukraine with The Associated Press.

>> So these are the numbers and the descriptions... >> And to examine potential war crimes in our war crimes tracker.

>> In the first weeks of the war, as we were seeing this imagery come in, we began tracking it... >> Connect with FRONTLINE on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

And stream anytime on the PBS Video App, YouTube or pbs.org/frontline.

Captioned by Media Access Group at WGBH access.wgbh.org.

>> For more on this and other Frontline programs visit our website at pbs.org/frontline.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Frontline's "Crime Scene: Bucha" and "After Zero Tolerance" are available on Amazon Prime Video.