Our children in the occupied territories are being indoctrinated to dream of killing Ukrainians
One brother is fleeing the Russian army, while another is being taught right now to dream of joining it. This is the reality for Ukrainian children who find themselves trapped under occupation and whom Russia is deliberately turning into its soldiers.
We recently rescued a 17-year-old boy who had received a draft notice from the Russian military. Mykola Kuleba writes about this .
Hundreds of thousands of children remain hostages of Russia
This young man managed to escape, but he was in tears because of his hopelessness: his 8-year-old brother remained under occupation. The boy had just started attending a Russian school, and his only dream now is to become a soldier in the Russian Armed Forces and “kill Ukrainians.” The older brother simply doesn’t know how to explain to his younger brother that this dream has been deliberately imposed on him by the occupiers.
At the Pathway to Peace conference in Canada, I spoke alongside Matviy and Daria – a young couple who have experienced this horror firsthand.
As for Dasha, the Russians sought to erase her Ukrainian identity from an early age; they stole her country. Matviy was forcibly sent to a cadet class under the supervision of the Russian Investigative Committee.
These young people managed to escape, but hundreds of thousands of other children remain hostages trapped in Russia.
Time is working against us
I have tried to convey a simple truth to the international community: time is working against us. Every day, we are losing an entire generation. Those 13- to 15-year-old teenagers whom we were unable to rescue earlier are now being drafted into the Russian army. The clock is ticking.
The official mechanisms provided for by international law are not working today because Russia simply refuses to cooperate with them. Russia does not want living witnesses to its own crimes – it is easier for the occupiers to send these children to the battlefield than to give them a chance to escape and testify about the crimes committed against them.
That is why the results of every high-level meeting must be measured solely in terms of lives saved. Save Ukraine has already saved more than 1,800 children, but if we don’t rescue the rest today – tomorrow Russia will force them to fight against us.
The column is the personal opinion of the author, the editorial board of 24 Channel may not share it.