Since the beginning of its full-scale invasion, Russia has illegally taken at least seven thousand children from their native Ukraine, with the real figure likely to be much higher.  This is in flagrant violation of international law and, in many cases, the latest trauma for children who have already seen parents or other close relatives killed by the Russian invaders.

In the majority of cases, Russia has claimed that it is ‘evacuating’ or even ‘saving’ children whose lives it first shattered.  There are numerous propaganda videos aimed at, for example, presenting the same Russian state that relentlessly bombed Mariupol and killed civilians as concerned about the welfare and happiness of its youngest victims.

On some occasions, parents allowed their children to be taken to Russia, supposedly for a summer camp, to get them away from the war.  It is looking, however, as though those parents were brutally deceived.  Tetiana Kozak from Graty has spoken with parents from parts of the Kharkiv oblast which were liberated last month after six months of Russian occupation.  Their children were taken to Russia in August, supposedly just to a summer camp in Krasnodar Krai.  The Russian invaders were, however, driven out by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in early September, and children, like 9-year-old Polina Hlahola from Kozacha Lopan, have not been returned to their parents.

Source: Russia refuses to return Ukrainian children taken from Kharkiv oblast