Yale University’s research has found that Russia planned a quick victory and the russification of Ukrainian children. But after failing, it began using them as hostages. Experts estimate that about 35,000 Ukrainian children are still considered missing. They are likely being held in Russia or in territories occupied by Russia, and attempts to bring them back often remain unsuccessful, according to The Guardian. 

In 2022, when Russian forces began their invasion of Ukraine, they abducted children from orphanages or forcibly took them directly from families.

In an interview with The Guardian, a Ukrainian woman named Natalia told how she managed to rescue her two sons, who were held for almost six months in a camp in the Russian city of Anapa.

To retrieve her children after the de-occupation of Kherson, she had to arrange documents for them in Ukraine and then travel to Russia. She spent six days on the road under shelling, where she finally got her children back.

However, this story is rather an exception. According to the Ukrainian organization Bring Kids Back, only 1,366 children have so far returned or escaped to Ukraine from Russia. There are concerns that many of the children kidnapped by Russians were sent to military camps or foster families. Returned children have reported undergoing military training in camps, being punished for speaking Ukrainian, and being forced to learn the Russian national anthem.

Daria Kasyanova, head of the Ukrainian Child Rights Network, which campaigns for the repatriation of abducted children, said that children are also made to believe their parents will suffer consequences if they do not comply.

Activists and researchers emphasize that the forcible deportation and stealing of Ukrainian children is not a new phenomenon. According to Kasyanova, she witnessed similar kidnappings and deportations during Russia’s invasion of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014.

The return of the children remains a key demand of Ukraine in any peace negotiations. However, Raymond says the Russians use children as bargaining chips.

“When Russians started out, they thought they were going to be victorious quickly… But because things started to go south quickly, they had to move their propaganda from the liability concealment phase to using these children as hostages to be leveraged in the negotiations,” he explains. 

Apart from stealing children from occupied territories, Russia continues daily strikes on hospitals, maternity houses, kindergartens, schools, and playgrounds.