Children stolen by Russia suffering ‘psychological and physical violence’

Ukrainian children stolen by Russia are suffering “psychological or physical violence,” the United Nations has said, as it expressed concern that there was no system in place to return them.

Ukrainian authorities say they have identified and verified almost 20,000 children who have been taken to Russia during the war.

Nada Al-Nashif, the UN’s deputy high commissioner for human rights, said she was “gravely concerned” by the situation.

“There is no established system to return Ukrainian children who were transferred to other regions in Russian-occupied territory or to the Russian Federation,” Ms Al-Nashif told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

“Among the children who reunited with their family after relatives travelled to the Russian Federation to retrieve them, some described experiencing or witnessing psychological or physical violence by educational staff there,” she added.

The International Criminal Court has accused Vladimir Putin and Russia’s Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova of the war crime of illegally deporting Ukrainian children. 

Moscow has repeatedly denied forcibly taking Ukrainian children, saying it moved those found in orphanages or without parental care to Russia for their own safety and placed as many of them as possible with relatives there.

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