A week after Russia invaded, the family of 15-year-old Arina Yatsiuk decided to flee their home near the Ukrainian capital by car. Less than 16 kilometres down the road, they encountered a group of Russian troops. 9News
, for comment on the allegations. It received a generic acknowledgement of receipt, but no reply.
The leaders of the Russian-backed, self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics in eastern Ukraine ordered mass evacuations of civilians to Russia on February 18. Sahaidak told CNN he managed to reach the head of the Mykolaiv school, who told him the group had been taken — against her will — to the Black Sea town of Anapa in Russia. According to Sahaidak, volunteers later helped the group to escape to Georgia. As of February, the children were still there, he said.The exact number of unaccompanied children who have been taken to Russia is unclear.
Russian officials have not responded to CNN's questions about the number of children brought to Russia by people other than family members. Statements issued throughout the year make it clear the numbers go into the thousands. As of mid-October, 800 children from Ukraine's eastern Donbas area were living in the Moscow region, many with families, according to the Moscow regional governor.
Last fall, a desperate father from Kharkiv called the Magnolia NGO. The man's wife had been killed while attempting to flee the fighting and the whereabouts of their 10-year-old son were unknown — until the father saw a video of his boy on a Russian TV program. "It's impossible to go to Luhansk from Ukraine, so they had to make a big circle through Russia, cross the border, then back through Russia to Europe, and only then back to Ukraine," Lypovetska said.Russia is open about its efforts to "Russify" the children brought from Ukraine.
special "rehabilitation programs" that included trips to famous Russian sights and meetings with celebrities.
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