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Ukraine Identifies Nearly 14,000 Children Abducted and Deported by Russia [1]
['Scott Mcdonald', 'Ari Hoffman']
Date: 2023-01-17 21:53:42-05:00
Ukraine's top presidential advisor for children's rights and rehabilitation said Tuesday that nearly 14,000 children have been abducted by Russian troops and deported to Russia. Of those, only 125 have been returned to Ukraine. Many have been sent to new families in Russia.
Daria Herasymchuk added that Russian troops have killed 456 children and injured nearly 900 others since the war of aggression began almost one year ago.
"We managed to identify and verify the data of at least 13,899 children who were abducted and deported by the Russian army, and, unfortunately, we can say that only 125 (of them) we managed to return home," Herasymchuk said.
Herasymchuk said 897 children have been injured by Russian forces.
Child abductions during the war have been an ongoing allegation, including more than 1,000 children taken after the bloody battles and bombings in Mariupol last summer. By August 24, which was the war's 6-month mark, at least 7,000 children had been abducted and relocated to Russia. This prompted Herasymchuk to create the website called "Children of War."
Local Russian governments at the time stated that new children were waiting to "meet their new families" and that Russians were offered one-time payments, per federal law.
At the war's highly contentious point last August in Mariupol, Russia claimed that the abduction claims were "voluntary evacuations" of children who were sent by Russia from Mariupol to Tyumen, Irkutsk, Kemerovo and Altay Krai.
"More than 1,000 babies from the liberated Mariupol have already found new families in Tyumen, Irkutsk, Kemerovo and the Altai Territory. More than 300 babies are on temporary maintenance in specialized institutions of the Krasnodar Territory and are looking forward to meeting their new families," one department stated.
The death toll of Russian soldiers in Ukraine keeps mounting at 300-900 per day, according to Ukraine's Ministry of Defense, which updates the tally every day. Russia's death toll hit the grim 100,000 mark before Christmas Day.
Ukraine estimates there have been 116,950 Russian deaths since the war began nearly 11 months ago. This includes 870 in the last day.
Russia doesn't normally publicly comment on its number of losses but Ukraine publishes its estimates daily of Russian losses, with everything from soldiers to killed to airplanes and drones shot down. For example, Ukraine reported that it destroyed 14 Russian tanks the previous day, bringing that total to more than 9,200 since the war began.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 (2022), but failed to take the capital of Kyiv, getting pushed back by Ukrainian fighters. Ukraine fighters have also shown a staunch defense in northern cities like Kharkiv, where they have pushed Russian troops back toward the nearby border.
Russia, despite many losses in the war entering its 48th week, has shifted focus to eastern and southern Ukraine. That includes a strong presence in the Black Sea.
Newsweek reached out to Russia's foreign ministry for comment.
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[1] Url:
https://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-identify-nearly-14000-children-abducted-deported-russia-1774522
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