Ukraine (MNN) — In times of war, children remain the most vulnerable members of society.
Since 2022, as the Russian army advanced and occupied more Ukrainian territory, children became silent casualties — taken to unfamiliar Russian institutions. An estimated 20,000 Ukrainian children are still missing, believed to be in Russia or Russian-occupied areas. The actual number may be even higher.
The mass abduction of Ukrainian children is a war crime according to International law.
Families are doing everything they can to recover their children, while Ukrainian authorities insist that even orphans taken to Russia remain part of the nation and must be brought home.
Representative photo courtesy of
Evgeniy Alyoshin via Unsplash
Eric Mock from Slavic Gospel Association says: “There are children who desperately miss their parents. Some are told their parents don’t want them or aren’t worthy of them — an awful reality no child should ever have to face.”
Some parents of these children were detained and later released. Others fled while their children were taken. In some occupied areas, families were offered the chance to send their children to summer camps — but not all of them came back.
“It’s difficult to sort through the pieces, but it’s clear that kids have been separated from their families, and there’s an overwhelming need to restore these families. That is a heartbreaking reality of this war,” Mock explained.
Finding and accessing the children inside Russia remains difficult. “There are organizations that are working to get these children home,” Mock added. So far, only 1,399 children have returned, while thousands remain trapped in the reeducation system — where efforts aim to replace their Ukrainian identity with a Russian one and revise their understanding of the war.
Slavic Gospel Association supports churches across Ukraine, where some Christians are actively involved in the search for lost children. Also, through its orphan ministry network, Orphans Reborn, operating in over seven countries, some of the orphans encountered may be from Ukraine.
“A lot of these disconnected children are showing up in orphanages, and we pray that SGA-supported churches who minister to orphans are able to connect with these kids and be there for them,” Mock said.
Be the voice for these children. Many feel helpless and forgotten, and their families struggle to find them.
“We pray for the restoration of these families, and above all, we pray that these children and their parents — wherever they may be — will be connected to a faithful church and get to hear the Gospel at every opportunity,” Mock said.
Header representative photo courtesy of Tadeusz Lakota via Unsplash.
