“They said if my parents didn’t take me back within six months, I’d be sent to an orphanage. They kept saying no one would come for us, that we shouldn’t expect anyone.” These are the words of a 16-year-old girl from Kherson, Ukraine. A child who, after being deported to Russia, believed she had been abandoned – until she returned home.
When we speak about the war, we often reach for numbers. Tens of thousands killed, millions displaced. It is the scale that shocks us. But the danger of stats is that we lose the human story. They make us forget that behind every number is a child who is deeply loved by their family members.
The new Return Every Child report, published by War Child UK, Save Ukraine, and the Human Security Centre, tells the story of Ukraine’s stolen children in their own words.
Two hundred children and young people who escaped have described what they went through. The picture is horrifying.
The report details the experiences of Ukrainian children that, once stolen, have been brainwashed, tortured, sexually abused and forced into adoption – amongst other horrific abuses.
The results have revealed Russia’s actions as the largest, most organised campaign of grave child rights violations in Europe since the end of the Yugoslav wars.
These children have been taken across borders against their will. Their language has been banned, and Russia has attempted to erase their cultural identities.
This is not collateral damage. It is deliberate, it is devastating, and it is a war crime.
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants in connection with these deportations, and though accountability is vital, it is not enough.
While international courts deliberate, children are still missing.
Ukraine has set up systems to trace children and reconnect families. Some success has already been achieved, especially by charities such as Save Ukraine that has supported the return of over 800 children.
But the challenges are immense.
So far 19,546 Ukrainian children have been identified by the Ukrainian government as having been taken by Russia. Out of all of the children living under Russian control, only 1,366 have returned home. Access to information is blocked. Bureaucracy is used as a weapon.
More than half (55%) of the children we spoke to were brainwashed with pro-Russian propaganda with lessons promoting ‘correct’ versions of history. Over four in ten (41%) had experienced military drills. Some had even been handed draft papers at just 17. Others were tortured, humiliated, abused or raped.
What Russia is doing is clear. It is erasing Ukraine’s children’s identities. It is forcing them to love a country that stole them, and it is training them to fight against their own nation.
At War Child UK, our mission has always been to protect children caught in conflict.
We have seen in countries from Afghanistan to Sudan what happens when the world looks away. When children are uprooted, silenced, and forced into wars they have no business being a part of. They are children – who should be protected at all costs.
Their trauma will impact their lives indefinitely if they are left unsupported.
One of the young people who was taken as a child told us how, when he finally crossed back into Ukraine, he was suffering from nightmares and couldn’t eat. He has since recovered thanks to Save Ukraine and now works to help others return home. That is the resilience of children. But they should never have to be so brave.
If the world stays silent, the million children in occupied territories of Ukraine, living under the control of an authoritarian dictator, could also be lost to this system of Russian propaganda and military camps. That cannot happen.
No child should be ripped from everything they know and forced to live in terror.
It is crucial that the UK Government leads the international community so that children’s rights are prioritised and protected. We owe it to them to fight for their return.
Every single one.
Support the Express’s Crusade to Return the Stolen Children by donating to Save Ukraine at: https://giving.classy.org/campaign/716398/donate
