International pressure is the key to returning children: UMDP commentary for Franceinfo.
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French media outlet Franceinfo published a story about the abduction of Ukrainian children by Russia and the difficult path of their return home.
The article states that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, nearly 20,000 Ukrainian children have been deported to Russia or the temporarily occupied territories. Only about 2,000 children have been returned.
The journalists tell the story of 14-year-old Bohdan from Balakliya, who was taken by the Russian military after the occupation of the city. His mother fought for seven months to get her son back. There are thousands of similar stories.
In a commentary for Franceinfo , Angelina Kasyanova, Head of the Child Return Department of the Ukrainian Child Rights Network (UCRN ), emphasized:
“Many parents do not know about the existence of organizations like ours. So they often try to return their children on their own.”
Over the four years of its work, the UMDP has facilitated the return of 339 Ukrainian children and young people who were held in Russia or on the occupied territories.