Kidnapped, abused, humiliated – the Ukrainian children stolen by Russia
Anastasiia Motychak did not know why Irina – the person in charge of her camp in Russian-occupiedCrimea– hadjust slapped her across the face; she just knew she missed her mum and wanted to go home to the Ukrainian city of Kherson.
It had been two months since the then 15-year-old had been put on a bus and moved from thethen Russian-occupied Kherson, in southernUkraine, to a two-week “vacation camp” in Yevpatoria, western Crimea. Kherson was no place for a child, the Russian soldiers had warned.
More than70 campsfor forcibly“re-educating” childrenhave been found, according to the Ukrainian government, including in Belarus, occupied Crimea and even far-east Russia, where the children are three times closer to the United States than Ukraine.
Read Tom Watling’s special report:
