Arthur Greene
Friday marks an unwelcome milestone in Russia’s war with Ukraine: it has been 100 days since President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion on 24 February.
But an even graver number was revealed this week by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, who claimed, “more than 200,000 children have been deported so far” into Russia.
“Russia is also pursuing a consistent criminal policy of deporting our people. Forcibly deporting both adults and children. This is one of Russia’s most heinous war crimes,” the leader said in a televised address.
For weeks, accounts have emerged of Russian forces sending displaced Ukrainians into Russia for adoption.
Earlier this week, Russia reportedly amended one of its laws to legalise the abduction of children from Ukrainian territory and forcibly put them up for adoption in Russia.
“These are orphans from orphanages, children with parents, children separated from their families,” Zelensky continued in his address.
The forced adoption of children is well-known tactic of war and in 1948 it was declared an act of genocide.
It was used by Nazi forces in the Second World War to relocate children Hitler’s party viewed as genetically favourable, and by settlers in America forcibly integrate Indigenous children.
There is extensive evidence that the forced adoption of children causes severe psychological har,. Indigenous American children lost the ability to speak their own language and never regained their ability to do so.
“The purpose of this criminal policy is not just to steal people, but to make deportees forget about Ukraine and not be able to return,” Zelensky added.
The Ukrainian president also said that 243 children have been killed in the 100 days since the war broke out and a further 139 remain missing while 446 have been injured.
UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund, estimates that over 5.2 million children have been displaced in the same period, that’s two out of every three of the country’s children.
“Without an urgent ceasefire and negotiated peace, children will continue to suffer – and fallout from the war will impact vulnerable children around the world,” UNICEF executive director Catherine Russell said this week.
Image source: @mbk_center
