Ukraine has managed to return 31 children abducted to Russia from the occupied territories back to Ukraine. Some of the children met their parents for the first time in six months.
– It was very emotional. All of us mothers and children cried. All that stress… Thank god this is almost over. We are already in Ukraine and soon home, Natalia Rakk told news agency Reuters.
Reuters interviewed Natalia Rakki when she had just arrived with her children across the border from Belarus back to Ukraine. From there, the journey continued by bus to Kyiv.
She had traveled with the rescue organization Save Ukraine and other mothers to get children back to Ukraine. The journey went through Poland and Belarus first to Moscow and then to the Crimean peninsula.
– The journey was difficult, but we continued it. We didn’t sleep at night, sometimes we fell asleep from our seats. We rarely stopped. We just wanted to pick up the children, Natalia Rakk explains.
“We saw mother for the first time in six months”
Natalia Rakk took her twin daughters from Russia, Dashan and Alyona’s. They are 13 years old.
– We are very happy. We saw our mother for the first time in six months, Dasha Rakk told Reuters.
The Russian occupiers promised Dasha and Alyona a short summer camp on the Crimean peninsula away from the war. There, the girls were informed that the camp had been extended.
– When they told us that we have to stay there for a longer time, we all started to cry, Dasha explains.
– None of us could believe it. I didn’t believe it, but it was true. We called the mother, but we couldn’t do anything, Alyona continues.
“They said we would be adopted”
Ukrainian authorities estimate that up to 19,500 children have been abducted from the country since the Russian invasion. Children have been taken from orphanages, but also directly from their parents.
has reported on child abductions before.
Read the whole thing here: Photographic evidence shows how Russia steals Ukrainian children
– They told us that we would be adopted, that we would get guardians, Dasha Rakk tells about her experiences in Crimea.
According to the rescue organization Save Ukraine, children were successfully returned from Russia for the fifth time. However, not all children taken to the Crimean camp were included.
– My heart broke when I looked at the children left behind the fence who were crying, says Natalia Rakk.
The rescued children were from Kherson and Kharkiv
Director of Save Ukraine Mykola Kuleba told a press conference in Kyiv that the operation was special because so many children were returned.
The returned children were from the Russian-occupied regions of Kherson and Kharkiv, and no one in Russia was looking for their parents.
– There are children in the group who were in five different places during five months. Some of the children say they lived among rats and cockroaches, Kuleba said.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for the president in mid-March About Vladimir Putin and the Russian Children’s Ombudsman Marija from Lvova-Belova.
They are accused of kidnapping Ukrainian children. In practice, they are implemented by Lvova-Belova.
Read the whole thing here: Abductions of Ukrainian children in Russia are led by an “ordinary” mother – this is what we know about Marija Lvova-Belova
Lvova-Belova claimed at an informal meeting of the UN Security Council on Wednesday that Russia is not abducting children, but taking them to safety. Children and their parents disagree.
Sources: Reuters, AFP, AP