German foreign minister: Deported children belong to their parents

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock urged UN countries at the UN Security Council meeting on July 18 to join forces to return children kidnapped by Russia to their parents in Ukraine.

"I want to call on all of you to join forces with international organizations, Ukrainian authorities and non-governmental organizations to investigate the deportations from Russia and together find ways to return these children home," Baerbock said, according to Ukrinform.

"You can fool yourself, but you can't fool the world," Baerbock said in a direct address to Russia.

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According to the Ukrainian national database Children of War, over 19,500 Ukrainian children have been abducted from Russian-occupied territories and deported to other Russian-controlled areas or Russia since February 2022.

385 children have been returned, while thousands remain unaccounted for. The government of Ukraine and various international NGOs have been working to return children who were kidnapped.

‘It was hell.’ Mother speaks of rescuing her child from Russian captivity

On Oct. 8, Tetiana Bodak was busy organizing a funeral for her mother, who was killed by a Russian attack in then-occupied Kherson Oblast, when she got an unexpected and very emotional phone call from her son. “Mom, I’m in Oleshky (a Russian-occupied settlement in Kherson Oblast). On the way

The Kyiv IndependentDaria Shulzhenko