The Abducted Children of Ukraine

[marmar]

The Abducted Children of Ukraine
The Kremlin has made a habit of seizing Ukrainian boys and girls, with the intention of transforming them into Russian citizens. Families are fighting to get their children back.

By Ann-Dorit Boy, Fedir Petrov und Alexander Sarovic
17.04.2023, 15.07 Uhr


(Der Spiegel) It's a gray day at the end of March, and Natalia Zhornyh and her son Artem have just returned to their home country across the Belarusian border. The mother drags a suitcase past men in uniform, rusty tank barriers and concrete pyramids to the Ukrainian village of Domanove. Then, she bursts into tears.

Her journey took her hundreds of kilometers - through Ukraine, Poland, Belarus and Russia into the occupied region of Luhansk. And back. But she made it. The 32-year-old, a woman with bright red hair and high tops, managed to get her 15-year-old son back.

The Russian occupiers had kidnapped the boy, and mother and son were separated for six months. At the border crossing, Zhornyh describes her desperate search for her son while smoking one cigarette after the other. Artem, his cap pulled down deep over his face, stands next to her making jokes. It's been a long time since Zhornyh and her son have been able to laugh together.

According to Ukraine, at least 19,500 children have been taken to Russian boarding schools or foster families since the beginning of the war. Most of the time, parents don't even know where their children have disappeared to. Kyiv says it has thus far only been able to retrieve 328 of the abducted boys and girls. ...............(more)

https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/kidnapping-as-a-weapon-of-war-the-abducted-children-of-ukraine-a-e8fa29a4-837e-4311-ac09-4943a158ddc4