As is often the case in war, among those hardest hit – especially in an invasion – are the children. And while nuclear families tend to look out for their own, those who suffer the most are the orphans.
Ukrainian orphans were no exception to this when Russia invaded in February 2022, but what was most disconcerting to those of us familiar with Russia’s history were its intentions for these children. The alarm quickly led to a small army of non-governmental organization (NGO) volunteers rushing to Ukraine to stymy Moscow’s attempt to deport as many of the orphans as possible.
A recent Russian propaganda video attempted to hide the fate these children are suffering. It cloaked the deportations under the facade of removing Ukrainian orphans from the war zone to safety inside Russia – there to be adopted.
The Yale Human Rights Lab published a report that gives a far darker side of this deportation initiative. It indicates that more than 6,000 Ukrainian children have…
