Name: Zelenska calls for action over Ukrainian children taken to Russian
Uploaded: 2025-12-03T21:20:37.128Z
Duration: 1 min 49 s
Description: Thousands of Ukrainian children have been forcibly taken to Russia or Russian-controlled territories, with families struggling to locate them amid the conflict. Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska launched the Bring Kids Back foundation to help reunite children with their parents.

Thousands of Ukrainian children have been forcibly taken to Russia or Russian-controlled territories, with families struggling to locate them amid the conflict. Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska launched the Bring Kids Back foundation to help reunite children with their parents.

Kyiv

Russian forces have invaded Ukraine from land, air and sea with strikes causing widespread damage. Global leaders have condemned the move and imposed sanctions.

Ukraine Invasion

Ukraine's First Lady Olena Zelenska has appealed for international help to locate and reunite thousands of Ukrainian children reportedly taken to Russia or Russian-controlled territories. Ukrainian authorities estimate that around 20,000 children have been forcibly removed, though officials believe the true number may be higher. 

Efforts to recover the children face significant challenges, including difficulties in identifying affected families and a lack of cooperation from Russian authorities. While nearly 2,000 children have been returned, the fate of many others remains uncertain, and the issue has yet to be prioritized in peace talks.

Zelenska calls for action over Ukrainian children taken to Russian

On her T-shirt, she wears their faces, just as she carries them in her thoughts. Without her consent, the grandchildren of this Ukrainian woman have been placed for adoption in Russia. They took our children, destroyed our homes. We spoke to the police and child services to find out how to get our children back. A French association is trying to help this Ukrainian family, but progress is slow. The hardest part about this work is identifying and finding the families. Most are in Kherson, on the front line, so it's difficult to identify them and then to bring them to a safe place where we can work together on finding their children. According to Ukrainian authorities, some 20,000 Ukrainian children have been forcibly taken to Russia or Russian-controlled territories. And that figure, Ukrainian officials fear, may be a gross underestimation. To call attention to the issue, Elena Zelenska, the wife of Ukraine's president, created a foundation called Bring Kids Back. During a visit to Paris, she called for help finding the children and reuniting them with their families. Russia has refused to give us any information. It's violating the Geneva Convention. A call for help and action echoed by France's foreign minister. Ukrainian children were ripped from their families and forced into adoption. Russia wanted to re-educate them and brainwash them so that they became opponents of Ukraine. Nearly 2,000 children have so far been brought back. But for now, the issue of thousands of children being forcibly taken to Russia is largely overlooked in peace negotiations.

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Zelenska calls for action over Ukrainian children taken to Russian

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Ukraine Invasion