From California to Kyiv, Advocates Fight for Return of Ukraine’s Stolen Children

Vladimir Putin has removed tens of thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia since the start of his full scale invasion in February 2022. The deportations, often carried out under the pretense of “humanitarian evacuation,” have targeted vulnerable Ukrainian children including orphans, children with disabilities and children with parents in the military. Children who have escaped describe having been sent to re-education camps, prohibited from speaking Ukrainian and denied contact with their relatives at home. The International Criminal Court, which issued arrest warrants in 2023 for Putin and Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, defines the unlawful transfer of children to Russia as a war crime. We’ll talk to Kyiv-based child advocates about the status of efforts to bring the children back, and we’ll meet a U.S. congressman from California who wants to hold Russia accountable.

The reporting for this episode was supported by the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Women on the Ground: Reporting from Ukraine’s Unseen Frontlines Initiative in partnership with the Howard G. Buffett Foundation.

Guests:

Jimmy Panetta, member, U.S. House of Representatives (CA-19)

Mykola Kulebra, founder, Save Ukraine; former Commissioner for Children’s Rights for the President of Ukraine (2014-2021)

Lena Rozvadoska, co-founder, Voices of Children

Azad Safarov, journalist, documentarian and producer; co-founder of Voices of Children

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