20,000 teddy bears have been placed on the National Mall in Washington DC to draw attention to Ukrainian children believed to have been kidnapped by Russia.
The U.S.-based organization Razom for Ukraine and the American Coalition for Ukraine set up a display to represent the estimated 20,000 children Ukraine has illegally sent to Russia and Belarus since the war began five years ago. Organizers want Congress to help address what the United Nations has called a crime against humanity.
Russia has denied accusations that it forcibly expelled children from Ukraine. Instead, Vladimir Putin claimed that the children had been ‘rescued’ from a war zone.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday that more than 2,100 children have been returned to their loved ones through the Bring Kids Back UA initiative, which will track and return Ukrainian children from Russian-occupied territories and Russia starting in 2023.
Video by Alex Foster with Rebecka Pieder
