Iryna reunites with her 13-year-old son, January 2024
Kyiv, Ukraine
Apr 8, 2023
Since the beginning of the invasion, more than 19,000 Ukrainian children have been taken to Russia, forcefully separating them from their parents. Some have been placed for adoption with Russian families, while others have been sent to reeducation camps. This is a war crime. Ukrainian charity Save Ukraine helps mothers undertake the dangerous task of travelling to Russia to retrieve their children – a journey no one else can take due to Russian regulations. Iryna was reunited with her 13-year-old son, who she had not seen for months, after he was taken from a summer camp in Kherson to occupied Crimea. Unable to undertake the journey herself, another mother was able to return him to her.
