where are the missing children of Kherson?

Before the war, it was a renowned center for social and psychological rehabilitation for children, many of whom were orphans. Today everything has changed. The children seem to have disappeared. Everything is empty, silence has replaced the cries. For nine months the city of Kherson was occupied by the Russians. The director of the center will never forget: “The Russians never said they wanted to take our children to be deported. They were talking about an excursion for their leisure. But I quickly understood that it was a one-way trip”. Oxana was an educator at the center, when she understood that the children were being deported by the Russians, she decided to act courageously: “I took three children with me and hid them. The educators I know took other children”.

“I didn’t rob anyone”

Many others were forcibly transferred to Russia. On these propaganda images, we see them happy, but what is it in reality? An AFP team traveled to Siberia to visit a host family. A large family with five new children from Ukraine. “These children were in need. They lived in a home and had no future. I did not steal from anyone”, swears the father of the family. The children were unable to testify. According to NGOs, more than 16,000 children have left the country since the start of the war.