we have been hearing their stories. there are many things that you hear time and time again. you hear about these children being taken from occupied areas of ukraine, particularly in the south and east of the country, removed into russia or deeper into occupied territory without their parents are being told anything about it. in many cases these are some of the most vulnerable children in the country, they are children from care homes, people who are being cared for by the state, they are also in many cases children from special schools, so children with special educational needs. extremely vulnerable and extreme distressed, particularly distressed by what has happened to them. we have heard many stories, but this is just one of them, this is such a s story. tetya na makes the most of every minute with sasha, now her son is safe with her in germany. because last year, he was taken from his school in ukraine by russian soldiers. his mother had to travel deep
we start in ukraine with an exclusive bbc report.0ur eastern europe correspondent sarah rainsford has met a mother whose son was taken by russian forces and relocated hundreds of miles away. ukraine claims around 19,000 children have been taken by russia. here is sarah s investigation. tetya na makes the most of every minute with sasha, now her son is safe with her in germany. because last year, he was taken from his school in ukraine by russian soldiers. his mother had to travel deep into enemy territory to rescue him. forced separation would be upsetting for any child, but sasha has special needs and for someone so vulnerable, it was deeply unsettling. he tells me how armed russian soldiers in balaclavas came to his school that day, loaded him and 12 other children onto buses,
russia claims it s just protecting the children. but russia s president is now a wanted man. the international criminal court has accused him of the illegal deportation of ukrainian children. i asked tetyana what she made of that charge. translation: it s not only putin who should be put on trial. i it s all the main people the commanders, all of them for what they did to the children. what right did they have? they knew it was impossible for us to get them back, and they didn t care. and tetyana showed me new evidence of how those children are treated. tetyana just showed me this photograph, and these kids here are classmates of sasha, of her son. and look at them here in this russian run school.