Russians Are Abducting Ukrainian Children

Mitzi Perdue is an author and speaker. Her latest book is a biography of the Chicken Soup for the Soul guy, Mark Victor Hansen.  She recently visited Ukraine as the guest of the Kyiv Regional Police.

Almost every aspect of war is monstrous, but some push the boundaries of what it means to be monstrous.  What Russia is doing to Ukraine’s children is Exhibit A. 

KIDNAPPING CHILDREN

Russia is kidnapping Ukrainian children, bringing them to live in Russia, and “educating” them to see their own parents as enemies. Press reports in the West put the number of abducted Ukrainian children at 200,000.

I asked General Andriy Nebytov from the Kyiv Regional Police if the 200,000 number was accurate. General Nebytov, by the way, is out of Central Casting when it comes to looking the part.  He’s wiry, muscular, with military posture, and most of all, he radiates an intense, take-charge personality.  

According to Nebytov, the 200,000 figure is accurate. “At the beginning of the War, the Russians rounded up the children from the orphanages in the occupied areas and sent them to Russia,” he states. “We have very good records from the orphanages and the number is real.”

I asked Nebytov how the Russians could simply make off with so many children. Wouldn’t their caretakers fight to the death to protect Ukraine’s children?

The answer, according to Nebytov, is the Russians made the Ukrainian children’s guardians an offer they couldn’t refuse.  “Russian soldiers told the officials at the orphanages, ‘Turn over the children and they’ll be fed. If you don’t, we’ll see to it that they starve.’”

In the week since Nebytov spoke about the 200,000 Ukrainian children now in Russia, a social worker who doesn’t want her name used but who is a volunteer with the Kyiv Regional Police, pointed out that this atrocity hasn’t stopped. According to this woman, the Russians have “invited” 1500 children from the Donbas area to come to Russia for games and for a rest from the stress of the war.

I asked her, “Do you think the children will see their parents again?”

“Not a chance,” she answers. “Look at the Russians’ track record. They want to demoralize us, showing that the Russians can steal our country’s future.”

She goes on to explain an additional motive for stealing Ukrainian children.  The Russian population is crashing.

Russia is faced with harrowing population problems. According to Worldometers.info, in 1991, Russia had 148 million inhabitants. In the years since, the population has declined to 146 million. By some estimates, the population will dwindle to 136 million by 2050.

A country would typically like to have a population that includes many young people who will work, pay taxes, and support retirees.  To achieve this kind of population, a starting point is women need to bear an average of 2.1 children during their lifetimes.   

In Russia, it’s 1.5 children for each woman. This is far below replacement levels. It means the population is aging.

Russia also suffers from an unusually low life expectancy rate. In the US, the life expectancy of a child at birth is a little over 79 years. In Russia, it’s a little lower than 73 years.  

Another ominous reason for Russia’s population problem is out-migration. Since the War began on February 24th, hundreds of thousands of Russians have emigrated from Russia. Often these are young, well-educated professionals, and their leaving is causing not only a brain drain and an economic drain, it also means fewer young people to support the aging population.

According to the Ukrainian social worker, “Kidnapping Ukrainian children is part of a Russian re-population plan.  The children are ethnically similar and often speak the language as well.” 

She summarizes her views, saying that kidnapping Ukrainian children on an industrial scale helps the Russian aggressors achieve two goals:

• Demoralize the Ukrainians

• Help repopulate Russia

There are countless reasons to want to make sure Russia doesn’t win the Ukraine War. Among them, the Ukrainians deserve to have their children back.  

What Russia has done constitutes a war crime.  The forcible transfer of children of one group to another “with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group" is a violation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.  

Those who value civilization should not let the Russians get away with this monstrosity.