More than 19,000 children from Ukraine were deported to Russia
The international humanitarian organization “SOS Children’s Towns” has named the total number of Ukrainian children who have been deported to Russia since February 2022.
More than 19,000 Ukrainian children were separated from their parents during the Russian invasion of Ukraine and deported to Russia, Serhii Lukashov, the head of the Ukrainian branch of the international humanitarian organization “SOS Children’s Towns” (SOS-Kinderdörfer), said on Thursday, August 10, in Munich. “This is a war crime and, according to international law, a part of genocide,” he emphasized.
According to Lukashov, during the war, Ukrainian children were separated from their parents in various ways. “At first, many were cut off by the rapidly advancing front line and suddenly found themselves alone in the occupied territory. Children were often taken by the Russians to other regions and to Russia,” he said. “I tried to take the children to a rest camp for a few weeks. But then the children did not return. Or the parents were detained at the border while trying to leave the occupied territory, and the children were taken away.”
Do everything possible to get the children back
The organization “SOS Children’s Towns” is directly involved in repatriation. To date, 385 deported boys and girls have been returned to Ukraine, 84 of them thanks to the efforts of the organization and its partners, Lukashov noted.
Often, not only parents, but also teenagers themselves seek support, for example, through social networks. “We plan the route together with them, help materially, suggest what wording and arguments to use when communicating with the authorities and at border points,” said the head of the Ukrainian branch of “SOS Children’s Town”.
What is happening to children in Russia In Russia, children end up in orphanages, hospitals or foster families, and many of them receive Russian passports after a while. According to Lukashov, children often complain of “brainwashing”: they are told that their parents and Ukraine rejected them and that they will be persecuted if they return, pressure is put on them. In addition, even if the children are successfully brought home, the problems often do not end. “Some of them have been exposed to propaganda for nine months, and it is taking its toll,” complained a representative of a humanitarian organization.
There, they arrange schools and tours of propaganda museums. The Center of National Resistance reports that the Russians continue to engage in military training of Ukrainian teenagers from the occupied territories. It became known that the Russians recently brought children to the military-patriotic meeting, which continues in Penza in the “Gvardiets” camp from August 1 to 18.
Ukrainian teenagers were taken from the settlements of Mariupol, Kirovske, Yenakieve, Horlivka, Shakhtarsk, Makiivka and Donetsk. They arrange schools, tours of propaganda museums and concerts of propagandist Oleg Gazmanov. “In this way, the Russians are continuing their policy of destroying an entire generation of Ukrainians, brainwashing children and trying to recruit them to the war against their Motherland,” explained the Center of National Resistance.
Recently, the Commissioner for Children’s Rights of the Russian Federation, Maria Lvova-Belova, stated that in 2022, the Russians deported 4.8 million people from Ukraine, including more than 700,000 children.