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Ukraine Accuses Russia of Abducting 200,000 Children

Ukraine Russia. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during his nightly address on Wednesday that as many as 200,000 Ukrainian children have been abducted by Russian soldiers. Zelenskyy accused the Kremlin of ordering troops to take children from orphanages in Ukraine, and even from their own homes, and take them across the border to Russia.

“Russia is also pursuing a consistent criminal policy of deporting our people. Forcibly deports both adults and children,” Zelenskyy said. “This one of Russia’s most heinous war crimes. In total, more than 200,000 Ukrainian children have been deported so far. These are orphans from orphanages. Children with parents. Children separated from their families.

“The purpose of this criminal policy is not just to steal people but to make those who are deported forget about Ukraine and unable to return,” Zelenskyy said.

The Ukrainian president made reference to International Children’s Day during the address and told the stories of Ukrainian children allegedly abducted by Russian soldiers or killed during the war.

Zelenskyy told the story of Denys from Zhytomyr who died with his whole family at just one year old when Russians bombed their village and Anya who was killed when the Russian military fired at a minibus on the streets of Bucha.

Barbaric: Putin Signs Decree Legalizing Abduction

The abduction of children by Russian soldiers was technically legalized and promoted by the Kremlin. The Ukrainian Ministry of Affairs warned last month that children being abducted were under threat of “illegal adoption” in Russia.

“In the course of the ongoing full-scale aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, the Russian occupiers continue to violate the norms of international law and resort to unacceptable actions – the illegal and forced displacement of Ukrainian citizens, including children, among them orphans, children deprived of parental care, as well as children whose parents died as a result of Russia’s military aggression, across the state borders of our State to the territory of Russia,” the ministry wrote.

This week, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry described how Russian President Vladimir Putin recently signed a decree that “legalized the abduction of children from the territory of Ukraine,” adding that the move violates the 1949 Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. Under the Geneva Convention treaties, occupying states are not allowed to change the citizenship status of children.

The move was slammed by the Ukrainian government, with officials calling for the international community to take additional action against Russia in response.

Putin signed the decree on May 30, simplifying the process of allowing Russian citizens to adopt Ukrainian children and grant them Russian citizenship.

Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.

Written By

Jack Buckby is 19FortyFive's Breaking News Editor. He is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.

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