https://quadrant.org.au/news-opinions/ukraine/ukraines-stolen-generation/
Myroslava Kharchenko is at the heart of the operation to repatriate thousands of Ukrainian children who have been deported, displaced, or just plain kidnapped in the occupied territories held by Russian forces since February 2022. She is the Head of the Legal Department for Save Ukraine, the independent NGO, that works with mothers and families to get their children back. She and her colleagues have had to resort to creating false documents and inventing cover stories or ‘legends’ for the mothers and close relatives who go into Russia to reclaim their children.
With the help of resisters in the Russian occupied territories in the east and south of Ukraine, and in the Crimea, Save Ukraine identifies the whereabouts of displaced children in so called ‘summer’ or ‘health’ camps, and rehabilitation institutions. They find their close relatives in Ukraine and begin to organise the children’s repatriation. Bereft parents get in touch with Save Ukraine for help, and sometimes the children themselves hear about the organisation and call a hotline.
Since the Russian invasion in February 2022, 19,500 children have been identified as having been deported or displaced by the Russians from their homes in the occupied territories. Those are just the ones Save Ukraine knows about — they have a name, a birth certificate, ID documents. It’s estimated there could be tens of thousands more since Russia took Crimea and part of the eastern Donbas region in 2014. Save Ukraine has managed to rescue and repatriate 1,236 children; 640 since February 2022.
Ms Kharchenko, who is also one of Save Ukraine’s Directors, said through an interpreter: “We discuss every case individually and in detail. Sometimes we have to use methods we can’t discuss in public to get the children out.
“We carefully brief the mother or close relative on what to say at every stage when they go to get their child. They are given a story, or ‘legend’, which they have to stick to when questioned by frontier guards at the borders and the airports, at checkpoints, or by the officials at the camps and institutions where the children are living.”
Save Ukraine is constantly identifying the easiest or less dangerous places to enter and leave Russia. Sometimes, at great personal risk, their own staff may accompany a group of mothers and relatives. Sympathetic drivers and organisers on the other side help. During each mission, staff at Save Ukraine maintain a 24/7 contact with the relatives, advising and holding their hands at a distance.
Since the borders between Ukraine and Russia are closed, the rescues are planned via round-about routes from Germany, the Baltic States, and other EU countries. The relatives will often fly into Russia — Moscow, for example — and then make their way by bus and car south to the occupied territories.
