Ajit Karn
Kyiv: A ten-year-old boy leapt directly into his father’s embrace as soon as the bus carrying him and more than a dozen other children from Russian-controlled territory arrived in Kyiv.
Denys Zaporozhchenko held and kissed his son on the forehead before embracing his two daughters, who were among the 17 children separated from their parents for months.
The reunion was organized by Save Ukraine, a non-governmental organization that opposes what it considers to be the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children to Russian-controlled territory.
According to Kyiv, more than 16,000 Ukrainian children have been deported to Russia since the incursion on February 24, 2022, with many allegedly placed in institutions and foster care.
Russia refutes the allegations, claiming that it has protected Ukrainian children from the atrocities of conflict.
However, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin last week for the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children.
Zaporozhchenko last saw his children in October when they departed for a so-called Russian summer camp in Kherson, the only regional capital that Russian forces occupied following the invasion.
As Ukrainian forces moved closer to recapturing his hometown, which they did in November, he anticipated intense combat.
Sending his children to Crimea, a picturesque and tourist-friendly enclave annexed by Moscow in 2014, seemed to be the lesser of two evils.
– “Blackmail, coercion” –
He told AFP that Russian officials “promised to send them to these camps for a week or two.”
It was too late by the time we realized we shouldn’t have done it (let them go),” he said.
Myroslava Kharchenko, a counsel with Save Ukraine, stated that families were sometimes coerced into sending their children to the so-called holidays.
“(Russian officials) informed the parents that they have one hour to make a decision, and that if the Ukrainians arrive first, American mercenaries will beat and rape the children,”
Kharchenko added that after “extortion, manipulation, and intimidation,” the children are taken away.
Kharchenko stated that parents previously had to undertake the perilous journey alone to locate their offspring.
But for the first time, the Save Ukraine group organized a group collection for the separated children by acting as the legal guardian for those parents who were unable to make the trip.
They chartered a vehicle that traveled through Poland and Belarus before entering Russia to collect the children in occupied Crimea.
Some of the minors interviewed by the AFP described political indoctrination.
“If we failed to recite the (Russian) national anthem, we were required to compose an explanation. “During the New Year, we were shown Putin’s speech,” Taisia, age 15, explained.
Yana, the 11-year-old daughter of Zaporozhchenko, stated, “Everything was the same as in normal camps,” but camp officials “made us sing and dance when Moscow inspectors came.”
Inesa Vertosh, age 43, stated that her son had become “more serious” after the lengthy separation.
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He stares at me and says, ‘Mom, I don’t want to tell you about it because you wouldn’t be able to sleep’
Kharchenko stated that all students will receive psychological support.
She added that her organization “was doing everything possible to prevent children and their parents from returning to dangerous territories.”
