We hear and read daily of the number of deaths and other casualties being sustained by the people of Ukraine as a result of Vladimir Putin’s continuing war of attrition. But perhaps the most devastating statistic is one that receives less attention, but should be constantly in the headlines: that is, the number of Ukrainian children who have been snatched from their homes and families, to be “re-homed” in Russian facilities where they are required to speak the Russian language, subjected to Russian propaganda, given Russian military training, and potentially being turned into Russian citizens.

While the most frequently cited estimates place the number of such children at around 20,000, those are only the documented cases. In reality, there may be as many as 400,000 children enrolled in Russian paramilitary youth programs or placed with Russian families or institutions, according to Katya Pavlevych, a policy adviser for the Razom for Ukraine NGO and the American Coalition for Ukraine. Pavlevych describes the situation as “the largest case of missing children since World War II.” [Alex Faufoglu, RFE/RL, March 26, 2026.]

And there may be as many as 1.6 million at-risk Ukrainian children still living in the Russian-occupied regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia. [Id.]

Some 2,000 children have been located and returned, primarily through covert operations coordinated by Ukrainian authorities and civil society groups. [Id.] But that is a drop in the bucket.

Inna Liniova, director of the Human Rights Center of the Ukraine Bar Association, says that multiple organizations — including the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice, and the European Court of Human Rights — are addressing the legal issues. But the prosecution of the perpetrators of these war crimes is a major sticking point, for which a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression Against Ukraine was launched in 2025, designed to fill the existing gap in the process of holding the guilty parties accountable. [Id.]

These are all vitally important steps, of course. But we must continue to shine the spotlight on this urgent issue in order to bring them all back before irreparable psychological damage is done to the children — which is one more reason pressure must be kept on the U.S. and European nations to continue providing maximum support to Ukraine’s defense.

These children need to go home!

*. *. *

And of course we must simultaneously continue the multinational effort to bring the political prisoners back from their illegal incarceration in Russia and elsewhere. Here again is the list of those known, which sadly is only a fraction of the total:

Prisoners of War:

The 20,000+ Kidnapped Ukrainian Children
The People of Ukraine

Immigrant Detainees in Russia:

Migrants from the Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan

Endangered Exiles:

Mikita Losik
Yulia Navalnaya
Countless Journalists and Other Dissidents

Political Prisoners:

In Afghanistan:

Dennis Coyle (American)

In Azerbaijan:

The “Azerbaijan 7”:
— Farid Mehralizada
— Ulvi Hasanli
— Sevinj Abbasova (Vagifqiai)
— Mahammad Kekalov
— Hafiz Babali
— Nargiz Absalamova
— Elnara Gasimova

In Belarus:

Andrei Chapiuk
Uladzimir Labkovich
Andrzej Poczobut
Marfa Rabkova
Valiantsin Stafanovic
Yuras Zyankovich

In Georgia:

Mzia Amaglobeli

In Russia:

The “Crimea 8”:
— Oleg Antipov
— Artyom Azatyan
— Georgy Azatyan
— Aleksandr Bylin
— Roman Solomko
— Artur Terchanyan
— Dmitry Tyazhelykh
— Vladimir Zloba

James Scott Rhys Anderson (British)
David Barnes (American)
Gordon Black (American)
Hayden Davies (British)
Anastasia Dyudyaeva
Antonina Favorskaya
Konstantin Gabov
Robert Gilman (American)
Stephen James Hubbard (American)
Sergey Karelin
Timur Kishukov
Vadim Kobzev
Darya Kozyreva
Artyom Kriger
Michael Travis Leake (American)
Aleksei Liptser
Grigory Melkonyants
Nika Novak
Leonid Pshenychnov (in Russian-occupied Crimea)
Nadezhda Rossinskaya (a.k.a. Nadin Geisler)
Sofiane Sehili (French)
Igor Sergunin
Dmitry Shatresov
Robert Shonov
Grigory Skvortsov
Eugene Spector (American)
Joseph Tater (American, disappeared)
Laurent Vinatier
Robert Romanov Woodland (American)

You have not been, and will not be, forgotten.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
3/29/26