from ukrainian special schools and children s homes. last september, sasha was taken from his school in north eastern ukraine, removed without a word to his family. forced separation would be upsetting for any child but sasha has special needs, and for someone so vulnerable, it was deeply unsettling. speaks ukrainian his mum had to travel thousands of miles to get him back deep into occupied territory. and tetyana has new proof of how ukrainian children are treated there. tetyana s just shown me this photograph. and these kids here are classmates of sasha, of her son. and look at them here in this russian run school. they ve got military uniforms and they ve got these 25 on their sleeves.
upsetting for any child but sasha has special needs, and for someone so vulnerable, it was deeply unsettling. speaks ukrainian his mum had to travel thousands of miles to get him back deep into occupied territory. and tetyana has new proof of how ukrainian children are treated there. tetyana s just shown me this photograph. and these kids here are classmates of sasha, of her son. and look at them here in this russian run school. they ve got military uniforms and they ve got these zs on their sleeves. these are the symbols of russia s war on their country. sasha has identified three children in these pictures. the writing on the classroom wall shows the ukrainians were dressed to celebrate
yes, to be honest, it s too distressing to even remember. the teenager is now safe with his mum in germany. they re living as refugees because their city is being pounded by russia s military. tetyana remembers how frantic she was when sasha disappeared and the moment she was finally told he was at a special school in occupied eastern ukraine and she could call him. translation: he cried into the phone. - it was the first time we d spoken in six weeks. he was happy to hear me, of course, but he really cried. he wanted to come home. the children had been told their homes had gone, that everything had
he s told his family the children were banned from even mentioning ukraine or speaking their own language. so, i asked tetyana what she thinks about the arrest warrant issued for russia s president. translation: it s not only putin who should be put - on trial 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. phone dial tone. i called the woman in charge of the school where sasha was taken using a russian number, so there was a chance she d pick up. speaks russian.
warrant being issued for vladimir putin. ukraine claims that around 19,000 children have been taken to russia. sarah rainsford has this report. tetyana 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, and drove off with them. translation: to be honest, it was pretty scary. i didn t know where they were taking us. sasha then had no contact at