Sawt Falasteen - Stuffed toys in US capital symbolize displaced Ukrainian children

Activists held a gathering of US lawmakers on Thursday at the somber display located a stone's throw from the Capitol, with a simple plea: "Bring Them Home."

"When you see the scale... you then start to understand how terrifying this is, and that all this time, while we are waiting for some kind of negotiations, there is children's life at stake," said Mariia Hlyten, a 24-year-old Ukrainian activist.

"They have to be returned immediately, as soon as possible."

Congressmen Richard Blumenthal, Jamie Raskin and Michael McCaul took turns speaking about the plight of Ukraine's missing children at Thursday's event, coordinated by Razom for Ukraine in partnership with the American Coalition for Ukraine.

"What Vladimir Putin is doing here is not trying to take territory alone. He's not trying to defeat a nation alone," Blumenthal, a Senate Democrat, said.

The Russian leader is "trying to destroy the people, that is the purpose of abducting children, changing their names, re-education. Killing their identity, if not the children themselves -- making sure that they never grow up speaking their own language, knowing their own religion and culture," Blumenthal added.

Democrat Jamie Raskin called Putin's actions "a blatant violation" of human rights, international humanitarian law and the laws of war.

"It's a war crime and if it's done intentionally... it is part of the proof of genocide," Raskin said.

Hlyten's relative, fellow Ukrainian Arkady Dolina, stood nearby with a large blue and yellow flag draped over his shoulders at the event.

"Absolutely horrible," the 28-year-old exclaimed, referring to what he said was a vast number of kidnappings from occupied territories by Russia since it invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Moscow denies the claims.

"This is the continuation of a centuries long Russian policy to abduct, indoctrinate kids and then send them as their cannon fodder to fight their stupid, useless, brutal wars," Dolina said.

In February, President Volodymyr Zelensky said 2,000 Ukrainian children had been brought back from Russia and Russian-occupied territories, but that thousands more remained "captive."

In March, the United States announced the creation of a $25 million fund to aid in the return of Ukrainian children, a cause that First Lady Melania Trump has also spoken out on.

The International Criminal Court in 2023 issued an arrest warrant for Putin and his children's rights commissioner "for the war crime of unlawful deportation" of children.

Kyiv says Russia has indoctrinated them, forced many to adopt Russian citizenship and tried to scrub them of their Ukrainian identity -- accusations supported by testimony from Ukrainians who managed to leave Russian occupation.

R.AbuNasser--SF-PST