20 thousand teddy bears laid out in the United States to mark abducted children from Crimea and Kherson region

A large-scale installation of 20,000 teddy bears was deployed in downtown Washington, D.C., to remind the world of the abduction of Ukrainian children by Russia, particularly from the Kherson region and Crimea. The action signaled to the international community the need to return the deported children and increase pressure on the aggressor country.

This was reported by the Crimean Tatar Resource Center.

In the capital of the United States, on the National Mall near the Congress building, a large-scale symbolic installation appeared to draw attention to the problem of illegal removal of Ukrainian children by Russia. The installation consists of 20,000 teddy bears, each representing a child who was deported or forcibly transferred from Ukraine, including the temporarily occupied territories of Kherson region and Crimea.

The toys formed a large inscription in English calling for the children to be returned home. In this way, the organizers sought to convey to the international community the scale of the tragedy and to remind them of the responsibility of the Russian leadership for these crimes.

According to Ukraine's Ambassador to the United States, Olga Stefanishyna, the initiative is being implemented as part of the Bring Kids Back UA campaign. According to her, Ukraine has already managed to return more than two thousand children, but thousands of minors still remain separated from their families and are in Russia or in the occupied territories.

The diplomat emphasized that the return of Ukrainian children is a key condition for achieving a just peace and ending the war. She also called on the international community to increase pressure on the Russian Federation, in particular through sanctions mechanisms, to bring those responsible to justice.

The action was joined by U.S. lawmakers - Senators Amy Klobuchar and Richard Blumenthal, as well as House members Michael McCaul and Jamie Raskin - who supported the need to return the deported children.

At the same time, the CTRC recalled that at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, it had recorded cases of illegal transfer of children from Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions to the occupied Crimea. The collected materials were submitted to the International Criminal Court for investigation.

Human rights activists emphasized that Ukrainian children who have remained in the occupied Crimea for more than a decade are systematically subjected to pressure, militarization and information processing. This creates risks of forming a generation that grows up under the influence of Russian propaganda.

Also in April, children from the Kherson Children's Home, who were illegally taken by the Russian military in 2022, were found on the Russian state portal for adoption. However, the documents do not contain any mention of Ukraine or the true origin of the children. In total, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Ukraine has returned more than 2,000 children.

Анна Бальчінос