A lack of awareness of host countries’ parenting styles is one reason for the removals, Kiev’s social services chief told RFE/RL
Child protection services have removed 430 Ukrainian children from their families in EU countries, the head of Ukraine’s National Social Service, Vasily Lutsik, has told US state-run Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).
He said reports of such cases have come from Ukrainian diplomatic missions in the EU, as well as from the children’s relatives.
A total of 122 children have reportedly been removed from their families in Germany, along with 39 children in Poland, and 20 children in both Norway and Spain. Some 65 of these have since been returned to their families.
The reasons for removing these children from their families vary, Lutsik explained. Ukrainian parents may not be aware of the host countries’ laws and approaches to parenting, he said, citing cases of minors being scolded loudly in public or walking to school unaccompanied. Health problems, such as mental disorders, are also a reason for taking children into care.
Vladimir Zelensky’s wife Olena claimed in February that more than two million children had left Ukraine since the conflict with Russia flared up in 2022, RFE/RL reported.
Currently based in Prague, RFE/RL was founded by the CIA during the early stages of the Cold War to spread anti-Soviet propaganda in the Eastern Bloc. It continues to be funded by the US government and primarily focuses on anti-Russia messaging.
Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova said a year ago that more than 700,000 children had been evacuated from Ukraine since February 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin stated in May that all of these children must be reunited with their families. Lvova-Belova is leading an internationally mediated effort to reunite Ukrainian children with their relatives, and 70 minors have already been returned.
