According to Ukrainian sources, hundreds of children were forcefully transferred to Russian-occupied territory or Russia by the Russian military, where adoption procedures were expedited.
A 14-year-old girl who went by the name of Anya informed The New York Times that she was abducted without her will and is now detained in Russia, where she is now living with either a foster parent. Despite a desire to go back to her family and acquaintances in Ukraine, she stated that she was on track to become a citizen of Russia.
She told PTI, who interviewed with her via voice notes and instant chats, “I wanted to stay. But no one questioned me,
Recent findings on Russia’s attempts to adopt Ukrainian youngsters and nurture them as Russians include Anya as just one example. Ukrainian authorities said Russian soldiers were “forcibly deporting” children and accelerating adoptions as early as April. More than 8,700 people have reportedly been deported, according to an official tally kept by the Ukrainian government, although it is impossible to verify this number.
In September, US officials said that hundreds of Ukrainian children had been forcibly adopted into Russian families and given so-called “patriotic schooling,” adding that Russian authorities had supervised the evacuation of the youngsters.
According to US authorities, the “deliberate deportation of Ukrainian children Russia’s military,” and laws aimed at speeding up the process of awarding Russian nationality to Ukrainian youngsters were also used in the attempts.
Based on an Associated Press investigation, Russia has not provided an exact figure for the number of Ukrainian children who have been carried over but often advertises the arrival of youngsters labeled as Ukrainian orphans. According to the Times, the youngsters are greeted with teddy bears in the Russian state-run media as if they had been abandoned and rescued from the battle.
Reports contradict Russia’s allegations that the deported youngsters did not yet have parents or legal guardians. Some kids are being removed from institutions, like Anya, who was at a facility for TB patients, but not all of the kids in such places are infants, as reported by the Times.
The AP also discovered kids who weren’t orphans but whose parents had been misled into believing they didn’t want them. Even Nevertheless, the act of taking children may indicate a goal to eradicate Ukrainian heritage and identity or an effort at genocide, according to the site.
Nearly from the start of the conflict, Russian soldiers have been suspected of committing war crimes. In September, investigators hired by the UN concluded that several war crimes, including torture and rape of civilians, had been perpetrated. They also found evidence regarding forced deportations.
