Russia continues to kidnap Ukrainian children: shocking facts about forced deportation

Since the beginning of the all-out war, Russia has illegally removed thousands of children from Ukraine. Both on the territory of the aggressor country and on the occupied ones, the enemy is trying hard to assimilate little Ukrainians and turn them into Russians.

The head of the charity organisation Save Ukraine Mykola Kuleba told details about how the Russians kidnap Ukrainian children in the temporarily occupied territories, use threats to force them to renounce their past and forcibly try to make "Russians" out of them. Kuleba told the international press about how this is happening in Lezpzig, Germany, during a forum on dictatorship issues.

He noted that Russians systematically take Ukrainian children out of the occupied part of our country. Often under the pretext of medical treatment or recreation, but these children do not return. Moreover, many of these children end up "adopted" in Russian families, while others end up in orphanages and boarding schools, where they are openly abused and "mentors" try to make "Russians" out of them.

Mykola Kuleba pointed out that the invaders are doing everything possible to make those schoolchildren who remained in the occupied part of Ukraine forget who they really are. The Russians forcibly drive them to schools to teach them the Russian curriculum, which often resembles propaganda and is built on violence, where teachers make them believe in a false history filled with fake historical data, which is beneficial for the Kremlin. They even prescribed "main enemies" in the textbooks. These were the EU, the US, the UK and Ukraine. At the same time, children are told that they allegedly no longer have any relations with Ukraine, and in the future should fight with the states that "stole their childhood".

The invaders also sniff out those who continue to receive Ukrainian education online.

Ukrainian schools in the occupied territories have turned into Russian schools. Children are forced to learn Russian history, sing the anthem and honour Russian symbols. They are forced to write greeting cards to Russian soldiers and thank them for some kind of 'liberation'," Kuleba pointed out.

Moreover, the occupants put pressure on those parents who resist forced education. They are openly threatened.

Parents are threatened to be deprived of their parental rights if their children do not attend Russian schools, - pointed out the head of the charity organisation.

Further, the Russians refuse to issue schoolchildren any educational documents if they or their parents do not have Russian passports, depriving them of their rights to any benefits and significantly limiting their opportunities. Such families are denied medical care and their homes may be cut off from electricity.

Russian passports are imposed on children, and refusal to give them up threatens them with various reprisals. In this way, they are indoctrinated and deprived of Ukrainian citizenship. This is a war to destroy our people and our children," Kuleba said, emphasising the seriousness of the situation.

Those who zealously resist the Russians threaten deportation and Russian prison, violence against their loved ones. The invaders also hand out summonses as punishment.

Kuleba said that the Save Ukraine organisation has already rescued more than 500 children, while rescue operations remain extremely difficult.

The FSB controls any actions in the occupied territories as much as possible, they understand that every rescued child is a witness to a war crime," Kuleba added.

Nevertheless, he noted that Kiev would not stop and would make every effort to return the maximum number of children abducted by the Russians to their homeland.

He also thanked international partners, in particular Germany, for helping to ensure the process of reintegration of children into Ukrainian society.

We are fighting for every child, for every stolen fate," Kuleba concluded.

Ukraine claims that since the start of the war, some 20,000 children have been taken to Russia or Russian-occupied territory without the consent of their families or guardians. Ukrainian authorities call the abductions a war crime that meets the UN definition of genocide.

Moscow claims it is merely removing vulnerable children from the war zone.

Kuleba called for intensified international efforts to collect information about the abducted children and return them home.