According to official data, more than 16 thousand children were abducted by Russians and forcibly taken from their families, claiming that their parents abandoned them.
The Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, said this in his address on the 58th week of the full-scale war that the Russian aggressor brought to our peaceful land, the Information Department of the UGCC reports.
"This figure is an officially confirmed number, but the true number of children who have become victims of Russian violence due to violent abduction can reach tens or hundreds of thousands. And this is already recognized today by officials of various states," the head of the UGCC stressed.
He thanked international institutions that consider the abduction of Ukrainian children a war crime, which should be condemned at the level of the International Tribunal for war crimes of Russia.
The head of the UGCC noted that some children were returned home. These children, he says, need our special care, human warmth, and spiritual healing.
"God bless our army at the front, which creates a space of life and freedom for the children of Ukraine," the Primate asked.