Russia has been taking Ukrainian children - we speak with one who escaped. Watch The Video
#OIDW #DWVideos #Ukraine #Russia #ChildAbduction #HumanRights #WarCrimes #Escape #ChildRefugees #ConflictZone #UkrainianChildren #RescueStories #JusticeForUkraine #WarImpact #SurvivorStories #HumanitarianCrisis #GlobalAwareness
#OIDW #DWVideos #Ukraine #Russia #ChildAbduction #HumanRights #WarCrimes #Escape #ChildRefugees #ConflictZone #UkrainianChildren #RescueStories #JusticeForUkraine #WarImpact #SurvivorStories #HumanitarianCrisis #GlobalAwareness
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NewsTranscript
00:00Steps on a path to recovery.
00:07Every day, 16-year-old Volodymyr makes the 20-minute walk from his village home in southern
00:11Ukraine to this sports field.
00:16Exercising helps him cope.
00:21Sports give me confidence that I will never drink alcohol or smoke.
00:25I live a healthy lifestyle.
00:27It gives me self-confidence, for example, if someone insults a girl, I could stand up
00:33for her.
00:34When the war broke out, Volodymyr was attending a boarding school nearby.
00:39His mother passed away and his father was unable to take care of him, he tells me.
00:45He, along with his little brother, 13 other students and the school director, were waiting
00:51to be evacuated.
00:54But their town soon fell to the Russians and it was them who came for the children
00:59instead.
01:01I was not only afraid for my little brother, I was afraid for all the children.
01:06I was frightened that suddenly there might be shelling and the basement where we were
01:11hiding would collapse on us.
01:13I was afraid for everyone.
01:16Initially, Russian forces holding them kept them in the building.
01:21But when they found out the school director was planning to escape with the children,
01:26the group was moved, first to occupied Ukrainian territory, and then to a study camp in Russia.
01:33There were some children who were pro-Russian and didn't want to return to Ukraine.
01:40I was friends with some who wanted to return to Ukraine.
01:49Volodymyr and the other children completely disappeared.
01:52His uncle was worried sick.
01:57We didn't know where they were or what had happened to them.
02:01I only heard some rumors that someone had seen them somewhere.
02:06But there was no accurate information.
02:08A year later, Roman was contacted by a Ukrainian volunteer group saying that his nephews had
02:16been rescued along with the other children and had been taken to Tbilisi, Georgia.
02:23The details of that rescue, we are told, have to be kept secret, as the group hopes to do
02:28it again for some of the other children still in Russian captivity.
02:34They were standing right next to me.
02:36I could touch them.
02:38After such a long time, I could finally see them again.
02:43I can't describe how I felt.
02:45They are my soulmates, my soulmates.
02:56Now they are not as cheerful as they used to be.
02:58They've become a little more withdrawn.
03:00They still have the fear from when they were sitting in the basement when they were taken
03:04out of Ukraine by the Russians.
03:06The trace of this remained on their souls.
03:11The forcible deportation of children like Volodymyr and his brother is a potential war
03:17crime that could even qualify as genocide.
03:22For now, Volodymyr wants to put this behind him and hopes the future will be better.
03:29I want to become a tour guide and see the world, or something like that.