II SÉRIE-D — NÚMERO 64

10

crimes in the world waged by Russia against Ukraine but this one is special because it affects those who are

always the most vulnerable, the most unprotected and this crime is taking place right now, right at this moment

as we speak.

I have a few stories to tell.

Twelve-year-old Sashko was with his mother, Snizhana, in Mariupol when the city was surrounded by the

Russian military. Together they survived terrible shelling hours, lack of water, heat, hunger and Snizhana's

injuries until they were separated by the Russians, they were not even allowed to say goodbye. The boy was

told that his mother had abandoned him. «The Russians said that my mother did not need me, that they would

give me away to a foster family in Russia». This is a quote from the boy. Sashko managed to find a phone to

call his grandmother. He was rescued but his mother is still in captivity by the Russian occupiers.

A 12-year-old girl, Kira, was also in Mariupol with her father when the Russians began destroying the city.

Her father, the former captain of the Ukrainian national water polo team, Eugine Obedinskiy, was killed in the

bombing. The occupiers took the girl to Donetsk. Thanks to enormous efforts of the government, civil society

and dozens of people, the grandparents were able to hug their granddaughter after months of captivity and

uncertainty.

Another family, father Evgeny, son Matvey, and little daughters, Sviatoslava and Alexandra, also come from

Mariupol. After destroying the city, the occupiers began the process of so-called «filtration» of the surviving

residents, the residents who had survived. Evgeny was thrown into prison and the children were taken into an

orphanage. For several months, they knew nothing about one another. The children were found in a boarding

house near Moscow just one day before they were to be adopted by Russians.

These stories show that terrible technology, how the occupiers abduct Ukrainian children. Most often by

killing their parents or forcibly separating them from their families. They also take away entire orphanages and

boarding schools. This happened, for example, in the Hairson region. A boy named Artem, along with the other

children from the Oleshky orphanage, was deported to Russia. A grandmother and Ukrainian officials

eventually found him in Russia.

These are some stories that fortunately have a happy ending: when the children were returned. We

currently have 361 such stories. But there is a more impressive figure: 19 390. This is the number of children

who are still in Russian captivity. And this is only the data that has been confirmed. But even this number is not

final because we do not know what is happening to our children in the occupied territories. Behind each figure

is a broken life. Not only of the child, but of his or her entire family. All of whom have no peace of mind for

months.

It is not accidental that I emphasised at the beginning that this violence is taking place right now, because

right now they are lying to a child, like Sashko, telling him that nobody wants him and that he has been

abandoned. Another child like Kira is crying for her parents who were killed before her eyes. Some children like

Matvey and his sisters are being prepared for forced adoption. Right now they have no contact with their

families.

This is why we are critically short of time. Every day, every hour in captivity breaks the psyche of the

children and their families. It takes away their health and lives. This is what I mean we do not only need the

world's concern, we need all possible effective help to free them. We need not only rescue but also justice.

The Hague Court has named two suspects for deportation but in reality, there are thousands of them.

Because this is not an accidental crime of an individual criminal, it is a whole policy and a whole conscious

mechanism of Russia to alienate our children, depriving them of their families, names, memories, language and

their roots.

The laws will tell us more about why this is genocide. I want to speak here as a person, as a mother of two

children. When raising children, we all want to have a better life for them. We tell our children what is right and

wrong. What is good and bad and this is evil. It is tangible. This is what it looks like, not in metaphors but in

reality. We adults tell children so much about the vector of goodness and the right behaviour and now we have

to prove it. We have to save the children, physically and morally, if we are really grown up and responsible, if

we know the difference between good and evil.

Human rights have no borders. When childhood is threatened in one country, it is threatened everywhere.

The danger to Ukrainian children is a danger to other children in the world. The abduction of children, the

torture of their parents, is not only an attack on us, but it is also an attack on all international law. It is an attack