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In Russia's Belgorod region, near the Ukrainian border, children are being evacuated by train after regional authorities announced 9,000 minors would be moved to other regions. The move follows weeks of deadly bombardment from Kyiv in the region, repeatedly targeted since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
This report presents an analysis of focus group discussions (FGDs) conducted over the course of December 2023 and January 2024 with children affected by the conflict in Ukraine, including those displaced within Ukraine as well as those in Romania, Moldova, and Georgia. The primary objective is to understand children’s perceptions of their well-being, new environments, educational setups, and coping strategies in the context of displacement and conflict.
This study addresses critical gaps in the current understanding of the experiences of displaced Ukrainian children. By focusing on…
The adoption of Ukrainian children, by U.S. citizens, is examined as the Ukrainian government ceases adoptions of children during the chaos of war. Intercountry adoption dynamics are presented with data from 2021, prior to the conflict in 2022. Then, the situation regarding child rights and the official Ukrainian government position are considered. Implications for guardianship and foster care of unaccompanied refugee minors are presented along with other critical risks to Ukrainian children living in another country. Implications for social work practice are concluded and child rights…
A teenage orphan who became a posterchild for Moscow's deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia said he was instructed by officials to recite pro-Russian talking points for television cameras and threatened with a beating when he complained about conditions.
Eighteen-year-old Denys Kostev is one of 4,000 orphans and children without parental care who, according to Kyiv, have been unlawfully taken to Russian-controlled territory following the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Russia says it has done nothing unlawful, and it only moved the children to protect them from war.
Reuters…
As the war in Ukraine enters its third year, the nation's children are feeling the overwhelming stress of…
The most important phone call of Yevhen Mezhevyi’s life came in mid-June of 2022. His anxiety, fear and exhaustion at the time makes him fuzzy about the exact date.
What he does remember is the sound of his son’s voice. Matvii was calling from Russia, where he and his two younger sisters had been forcibly deported nearly a month before — the same morning Mezhevyi, a single father and Ukrainian soldier from Mariupol, had been released without explanation after spending 45 days as a…
Teenager Dima lost his mum, dad and two grandparents when they were all killed in a missile attack on his village of Hroza in north-eastern Ukraine last October.
"I still can't grasp it completely," the 16-year-old tells me.
"Now I am responsible for our house," he says.
He adds that he feels most sorry for his youngest sister: "Before this happened she didn't like it when I hugged her. Now she wants to hug me all the time."
On 5 October 2023, a missile struck a cafe in Hroza, in the Kharkiv region of eastern Ukraine, killing 59 people - a fifth of the village's…
Russia’s war on Ukraine is having devastating impacts on children and families. More than 7 million children are affected, having experienced violence, loss of family members, displacement, and disrupted education. Tens of thousands of Ukrainian children have been separated from their families and communities and forcibly transferred to Russian-occupied territories or deported to Russia and Belarus. Some have been placed in Russian foster and adoptive families and given Russian nationality. Many of these children have been transferred to “camps” and other facilities, where Russian officials…
In Moldova, a disturbing case has emerged involving the attempted sale of a Ukrainian infant to a Romanian couple, highlighting the dark underbelly of illegal adoption rings.
Four women, including the head of a children's rights foundation, a hospital director, a notary, and a Ukrainian national, have been formally charged in connection to this nefarious scheme. The operation was meticulously planned, exploiting the turmoil in Ukraine to manipulate a vulnerable mother into giving up her newborn daughter under the guise of adoption.
When Russia invaded Ukraine nearly two years ago now, it didn't just take territory. It separated thousands of Ukrainian children from the only home they've ever known, relocating them to Russian-occupied territory or to Russia itself. Most of those children have not returned. Some who have are young adults now, and they're speaking out.