In Russia’s catalogue of kidnapped Ukrainian children, prospective guardians can choose preferred hair and eye color, and specify their intended form of guardianship. Teenage girls are photographed in seductive adult attire.
“It’s pure human trafficking,” said a representative of Save Ukraine, the leading organization working to rescue Ukraine’s children Russia has kidnapped.
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Typically, young boys are trained as Russian military to likely fight against their own country, and girls are prostituted — forced into marriages — as early as 13 to produce large Russian families.
Russia’s war on Ukraine has ushered in a war on Ukrainian children and families, encompassing the kidnapping and “Russification” of children to alleviate a decreasing birthrate in Russia, where there were nearly 400 abortions for every 1,000 live births in 2020.
The kidnappings amount to genocide, advocates said, citing the Genocide Convention and the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The atrocity is among many Russian crimes explored in the new five-part documentary series “Faith in War,” produced and directed by The Fourth Sign founder Colby Barrett along with Steven Moore, who together have documented Russia’s persecution of Christians in Ukraine.
“The Stolen Children: The Search for Ukraine’s Abducted Children,” tells the individual stories of several children Save Ukraine has rescued from Russia, detailing emotional and physical abuse including beatings and electrical shock, forced indoctrination of Russian values and coerced repudiation of their Ukraine citizenship.
‘Really hard to find these kids’
“It’s really hard to find these kids. We still desperately need information,” Save Ukraine Founder Mykola Kuleba said in The Stolen Children. “And Russia refused to give information to Ukrainian authorities, or anyone. Where are our children? Because 1.6 million children we lost due to occupation of territories for 11 years of war, and only 20,000 have been identified.”
Save Ukraine and other Ukrainian authorities have documented the theft of 19,546 Ukrainian children from occupied territories and cities Russia has invaded since February 2022, but scores of others have likely been abducted with no credible paper trails.
Stolen Children also spotlights the advocacy of Meaghan Mobbs, a combat veteran and West Point graduate who is investigating the stories of kidnapped Ukrainian children as president of the R.T. Weatherman Foundation that has provided humanitarian aid in Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion.
“Rather than improve lives for Russians and increase birthrates, Putin’s plan is to steal Ukrainian children and force them to bear large Russian families,” Mobbs said in The Stolen Children.
‘Stories of courage, sacrifice and hope’
Along with The Stolen Children, the five-part series includes “Safe Ground,” focused on efforts to remove deadly landmines in Ukraine, rebuild communities and rehabilitate veterans; “Even in the Ruins,” following chaplain Mark Sergeev’s efforts to rebuild his father’s church and home Russia destroyed; “No Surrender,” spotlighting pastor Yuri Babinets’ struggle to continue ministering in Kyiv amid the war; and “Soldiers of Light,” the story of U.S. Special Forces veteran and missionary Christian Hickey, who has ministered on Ukraine’s frontlines.
“These episodes are about far more than war. They’re about people whose faith has remained unshaken in the face of extraordinary adversity,” Faith in War series producer Barrett said in a press release announcing the series. “Vladimir Putin and the Russian military are trying to break their spirit. Instead, their faith gives them the strength to endure and to serve.
“Whether it’s a pastor rebuilding after losing everything, a family answering a call to serve, or parents fighting to bring stolen children home, these are stories of courage, sacrifice, and hope that deserve to be seen around the world.”
Voice the the persecuted
Moore, executive producer of the series, said the series gives a valuable voice to the persecuted.
“For too long, Russia’s campaign against people of faith in Ukraine has unfolded largely out of public view,” Moore said. “This series gives a voice to the pastors, families and volunteers who continue to stand firm in their faith despite extraordinary persecution.”
Anna Shvetsova, Dave Hansow, Charlie Sadoff and Sarah Makin joined Barrett and Moore as producers of The Stolen Children, directed by Yaroslav Lodygin.
The series debuted Aug. 2 on the Faith Under Siege YouTube channel and at FaithatWar.com, and will be available for streaming Aug. 6 on TBN+.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Diana Chandler and originally published by Baptist Press.
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