During 466 days of full-scale war, russia stole more than 19,000 of our children from Ukraine. Such figures are published on the state information platform “Children of War”
These are the children about whom we already know exactly what the situation is in the occupied territories, we can only guess.
The russians purposefully kidnap Ukrainian children, hide them, illegally give them to russian families, manipulate children, saying that their parents and Ukraine have forgotten about them and are not looking for them – they are doing everything to ensure that our children never return home. And this is evidenced by all their actions. The most famous example is Maria Lvova-Belova, a russian woman who holds the position of Commissioner for Children’s Rights in russia. For the whole world, she is a war criminal. Back in March, the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for her arrest for kidnapping Ukrainian children for their forced russification.
On the russian side, there is not a single person or organization that would oppose the system from the inside and help Ukraine return Ukrainian children. According to Daria Gerasimchuk, Commissioner for Children’s Rights, 369 children have already been returned to Ukraine.
For 466 days of war, there is no single algorithm for the return of children in the world. Each child who returned home has a whole story behind his or her. After all, russia is inventing any mechanisms to prevent the return of Ukrainian children, says Darya Gerasimchuk.
“Ukrainian children are returning thanks to the creation of conditions under which parents or other relatives with appropriate documents, accompanied by a state team and Ukrainian public organizations, could come and take the child home, but it always happened like a lottery. Because there were frequent cases when the russians did not give up their children, and they said, “No, we decided that they will be here, it will be safer for them here, if you want, live with them here, on the territory of the russian federation.”
As Daria Gerasimchuk points out, more than 19,000 Ukrainian children are actually on the territory of russia.
“This is specific personal information of children, which was collected based on the facts of appeals from parents, other relatives, representatives of local authorities, or witnesses who accurately testified about the fact of deportation or forced transfer of a child.”
How the russians behaved with the children, the children themselves tell after their return, and it gives goosebumps, says the commissioner for children’s rights in Ukraine.
“The children could not remember that they were Ukrainians, speak Ukrainian, or remember their families. That is, a total ban on everything Ukrainian, but instead, the russians carried out a very active Russification of these children, they were forced to learn the russian language, culture, learn a foreign anthem, sing it, moreover, the children were forced to stand during the anthem. If a small Ukrainian boy or girl refuses to stand during the russian national anthem or sing it, the child is punished. Often forbidden to go out for a walk, locked up in isolation cells, deprived of food, it even came to physical punishment, beating with sticks,” — says Daria Gerasimchuk.
This abduction of children will drag on for decades! After all, if older children still remember their life in Ukraine before the war, then young children aged one, two, five, six years old, what can they remember? How do they know whose race they are? If, at the direction of Putin, the conditions of russian legislation were simplified for the accelerated change of nationality of children, and, in the future, for giving them up for adoption to russian families?
A country of responsible adults, it is also about returning every Ukrainian child to Ukraine. After all, while we are alive, we have to talk about every child who was kidnapped by the russian federation.
UKREDU is member of the International Federation of Educative Communities (FICE). FICE International supports all actions protecting and promoting the well-being of children in Ukraine, from Ukraine, and in all countries around the world.