Lyudmila Zhernovska00:48, 10.04.23

So far, 360 kidnapped children have been returned home.

Children who managed to return to Ukraine from Russia talk about beatings and punishments for refusing to sing the Russian national anthem.

This was reported by Daria Gerasimchuk, an adviser to the President on children’s rights and child rehabilitation, on the air of an information telethon. According to her, as part of total Russification, the occupiers are turning children against their parents, and they also say that no one is waiting for them in Ukraine at all. 

“The children who return do not say anything good about what happened to them there. And in general, it depends on their locations, because someone was even beaten, it is very difficult to even talk about it, because they constantly mentioned that they are Ukrainians, because they refused to sing the Russian national anthem, because they refused to stand up during the Russian national anthem, because they refused to sing “Russia, forward” every morning, etc. For this they were beaten, punished, not allowed to go for walks, forced to write and rewrite some Russian texts, etc.,” said Gerasimchuk.

She noted that some children were kidnapped after their parents were killed. In other cases, children were “torn” from their families, some were separated from their parents during the filtering process, and they were told that their relatives had abandoned them, so now adoptive families in Russia are waiting for them. Most of those who have now been returned were taken from the occupied territories allegedly with the consent of their parents. She added that people gave this “voluntary” consent either out of desperation or because of threats of deprivation of parental rights.

Gerasimchuk told about a child who was operated on in Russia without sufficient anesthesia, and when she began to complain about it, they said: “It’s okay, you’ll survive.” 

She emphasized that the authorities of the Russian Federation do not contribute to the return of children to Ukraine – no group was agreed upon with their consent. In addition, children are constantly moved, they are prevented from contacting their relatives, and representatives of international organizations are not allowed to visit them.

For each abducted child, Ukraine develops a “rescue operation”, sometimes they are united in small groups, Gerasimchuk added. So far, 360 kidnapped children have been returned.

(C)UNIAN 2023