Ukraine wants more done to retrieve its stolen children from Russia
Newsy
Ukrainian officials charged with bringing Ukraine's abducted children home are asking Washington to put more pressure on Russia.
They came to the U.S. to tell their stories: their abduction by Russia and the cruelties they endured before they became the few, fortunate Ukrainian children finally returned home to their families.
Rostislav Lavrov, who’s now 18 years old, said when he repeatedly refused to sing Russia’s national anthem, he was given three weeks of solitary confinement. The humanitarian aid group Save Ukraine managed to bring him and more than 200 other children home. But Ukrainian officials estimate at least 20,000 of their peers are still being held by the Russians.
Ukraine’s top official tasked with the children's return, Dmytro Lubinets, is in Washington, D.C., asking for help.
"Genocide as a war crime has five elements," Lubinets told Scripps News. "One of them is forcibly transferring children from one ethnic group to another."
"Russians push for Ukrainian children to identify themselves as Russians," he said.
