Ukrainian children are being taken from orphanages, parents, and other places in Ukraine because Russians claim that they are “saving” them. The Russian troops make the children board busses to Russia or Russian-held territory. Some of the children still have parents and are taken without their consent. When the children arrive to Russia, they are put into orphanages or camps that are often in poor conditions. The Russian people tell the children that their parents do not want them and left them so they could flee from Ukraine to somewhere else. While the children are at these houses, they are forced to watch Russian propaganda, write in Russian, sing the national anthem, and more.  

The children’s ages are between the ages of about 4 months old and 17. They are forced to take classes on Russian culture. They are punished for refusing to sing the Russian anthem and for mentioning that they were Ukrainians. While being interviewed, Ms. Daria Gerasimchuk claimed that the Russian troops sometimes kill the parents and snatch their child.  An organization called Save Ukraine has returned 95 children. President Volodymir Zelensky himself said that it is hard for them to track down all the missing children. As the rescued children returned to Ukraine, they spoke to journalists and described the horrid treatment towards them.  

Some of the kids were brought back to their parents and homes, saying they were beaten if they did not speak or write in Russian. The troops were rehoming the children to Russian families and giving them Russian passports saying that they were citizens. They were stripping them of their identities and illegally placing them into Russian homes. They are saying that the Ukrainian children were now Russian. In my church, the priest said that we could sign a petition, saying that the Russian troops should return the Ukrainian children they took. The petition can be found at #BringBackUkrainianKids. Ukrainian children need to be brought back to their home.