22.02.2025 

For Russians, deported Ukrainian children are a potential mobilization reserve. Russia is brainwashing children abducted from the territory of Ukraine in schools and even in kindergartens. What is the current situation with the deportation of children, what steps is Ukraine taking to return young citizens, and what are the children who managed to return to their homeland saying, Kateryna Rashevska, a lawyer at the NGO “Regional Center for Human Rights”, told OBOZ.UA.

On the scale of child abduction by Russians today

It is worth understanding that the Russian Federation has now effectively lost the reason why they kidnapped tens of thousands of Ukrainian children. The Russians want to turn the kidnapped Ukrainian children into Russian citizens, including using them as a potential mobilization reserve. And that is why they took them away, because they could not achieve this goal in any other way. But when they illegitimately included our territories in their composition, through the system of formal and informal education created new military-patriotic centers, for them such a need has effectively disappeared.

This does not mean that the Russians are no longer deporting Ukrainian children or kidnapping them, it would be wrong to say so. Because, for example, deportations under the so-called “Crimean scenario”, when Ukrainian children are adopted by Russian citizens, continue. We have a recorded case in 2024, when three little boys were taken from Luhansk to the Moscow region in order to raise them as Russians in a Russian family.

There is also such a thing as the temporary removal of Ukrainian children to re-education camps. Some of them are actually training camps for young reservists. For some, everything boils down, for example, to “simply” meetings with participants of the so-called SVO, formation, listening to the anthem with the servicemen, propaganda of the “Youth Army”. There are also cases when Ukrainian children, for example, cadets, act as propaganda agents for other Ukrainian children. There are many variations, but this removal is temporary, and we still have no reason to claim that children disappear from such camps and return only partially, for example, to the occupied territories, or that the group does not return at all.

We also have some children whom the Russians suspect of so-called “subversive activities.” For example, a child came out, pulled out a phone and caught the eye of some Russian soldier. And he claims that the child was filming or photographing something, and he can immediately be thrown behind bars. We have recorded such cases in the Zaporizhia and Donetsk regions. But in general, of course, the numbers, scale, and dynamics of the deportation of Ukrainian children are in no way comparable to 2022.

Regarding the return of deported children

Today, the competent Ukrainian authorities claim that Ukraine has managed to return more than 1,100 children. This figure is quite flexible. Conventionally, back in early February we were talking about 1,042, because this was the figure called by Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets, and now the figure is 100 more. These are children who were returned not only from deportation and forced displacement, but also returned from the occupied territories, since they were at special risk of deportation. Those who are at constant risk of deportation are 1 million 600 thousand Ukrainian children who, according to our authorized persons, are still in the occupied territories today. Of these, 600 thousand are of school age. That is, these are children who were the first to suffer from Russian brainwashing through the formal education system at school. But we should not forget that kindergarten also involves certain activities that are clearly politicized and militarized in nature.

Therefore, as Putin said, “born – immediately in the “eagles”, that is, for Russians, such brainwashing of children is a matter of their internal policy. We see that in the renewed youth policy of Russia, the military-patriotic education of youth, its strengthened component, is one of the priorities. For Russians, the military-patriotic education of children and youth is one of the tools for “overcoming the terrorist, extremist threat.”

Next is the announcement in Russia of this year as the year of the defender of the fatherland. Next is a new decree by the Russians on strengthening DOSAAF. This is all moving towards some bright point, when the Russian top political leadership should come out and say: “Look, we want to prepare children from grades 9-11 so that after graduating from school they will go and join the defenders of the Russian Federation.” They will talk about this with pride, they will invent some other propaganda narratives in order to somehow explain it to at least the domestic consumer. Because the international community clearly criticizes such actions. Both the UN Secretary General and the UN Security Council are constantly concerned about the militarization of Ukrainian children by the Russians. For example, I spoke at a conference at the UN in December 2024, and then the militarization of Ukrainian children, including with the participation of Belarus, worried our partners the most as a violation of the rights of Ukrainian children in the occupied territories.

Have the algorithms and mechanisms for returning changed?

The Russian Federation tells everyone that it is supposedly ready to return children, and its statistics are quite underestimated. They say that they helped reunite 87 Ukrainian children with their families. This is clearly not true. They are deliberately underestimating the figure. In their opinion, if the return is only dozens of cases, then this automatically indicates that they did not have any 19,546 children who were forcibly displaced. It is profitable for them to understate this figure, to distort reality. Moreover, in each case they distort the facts. They say that “no, these children were not previously abducted”, or “no, look, they ended up here because of internal family disputes. What are we here for anyway? We very strongly, heartily helped these children return to their relatives in Ukraine”, etc.

Now we see that a new intermediary state is emerging in the process of returning Ukrainian children, this information has been coming since October 2024 – it is the Republic of South Africa. Recently, meetings were held by our Office of the President with representatives of South Africa, with their media, with non-governmental organizations in order to coordinate activities and understand where there is room for South Africa’s mediation in the return of Ukrainian children. But now most cases are being organized with the assistance of our partners from the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children, as well as thanks to non-governmental organizations and Ukrainian authorities. We now have a resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers, which regulates the procedure for the return of children, as well as what happens to children after they return to the territory of Ukraine. I will not call it a mechanism, because in this case we are talking only about the action program of Ukraine and its partners, as well as non-governmental organizations. The Russian Federation is not there. But this is better than how the return took place in 2022-2023.

About the children who were returned

Does a child who has returned realize that a crime has been committed against them? It all depends on many factors – like their age, although there is no direct correlation, that the older the child, the more they understand, and the younger the child, the easier it is. No, there is no such thing. It depends more on gender, because some of the violations of Russians are gender-biased.

Also, unfortunately, there are cases when, for example, deportation and eventual displacement are not the worst thing that happened to a child because of the Russians. The children could either have witnessed Russian war crimes, or they themselves were victims of sexual violence, or they were not provided with timely assistance. Or they were treated inhumanly – Russian FSB officers came, conducted searches, “pulled out” their parents. In other words, the stories here are completely different.

But what I want to say is that some children demonstrate heroism and indomitability, despite these circumstances. Some of them express a desire to continue to help protect the rights of other children and to make their efforts to advocate for the return of such children. When asked about justice, they say that they want more children to be at home, in Ukraine. That is, they do not want any court decisions, to put someone behind bars. There is no such thing. Although, I remember, one boy told me that he would like to know the address of Maria Lvova-Bielova so that he could help attack her house.

Their condition after returning immediately and then, for example, a month later, and then after six months, a year is completely different. Although in some cases, due to the inhumane attitude of the Russians, children, for example, struggle with depression. Not as something abstract, but with a diagnosis. In Ukraine, they are provided with psychological help, and help from social workers, and various recreational services so that they feel at home.

Some of them are very “brainwashed”, that’s understandable. They are aware of some of Russia’s violations, and some of the ones they saw were only witnesses, not victims, which is not to say that they are excusing it, but they also don’t think that anything abnormal happened that concerns them.

Let me explain with a specific example. We had one situation when a child was lucky. She ended up in a school in the occupied territory, according to Russian standards and Russian politicization and militarization, but thanks to the adequate position of the teacher, who was not a carrier of Russian propaganda, she also tried to internally resist this. This child did not write a letter to a Russian soldier, did not sing Russian anthems, did not go to meetings with Russian soldiers. But at school it was everywhere. In the same school, in other classes, representatives of the “Youth Army” came to school classes. That is, this does not mean that there was absolutely no violation. It just happened that way. But again, the child believes that she is lucky and that such things happen, and she is no longer fully aware of this negative from politicization and militarization.

There are cases when a child comes and says that Mariupol is a “Russian city” and “there are Ukrainian fascists in my country.” But after he returns to Ukraine, special non-governmental organizations very gently conduct lessons on the history of Ukraine during rehabilitation. This is not a traditional lesson, it’s all in the form of a game. After such classes, children no longer broadcast Russian narratives, so everything can be “fixed.” It is possible to return the child to normal, but, obviously, this requires appropriate programs, funds, and time.

That is, it doesn’t happen as if by magic – the child crossed the border with Ukraine and returned to normal life – unfortunately, it doesn’t happen…

https://war.obozrevatel.com/ukr/hotiv-bi-znati-adresu-marii-lvovoi-belovoi-schob-dopomogti-atakuvati-ii-dim-yuristka-rozpovila-pro-scho-govoryat-diti-yakih-ukraina-povertae-z-rosii.htm