20,000 Teddy Bears
For the stolen children of Ukraine
Today the adult members of this family had the honor of helping to erect an installation on the National Mall, nearly in the shadow of the Capital building, to remind our citizens and elected officials of the terrible plight of 20,000 Ukrainian children forcibly abducted by the Russians on orders from Vladimir Putin. The figure 20,000 is based on the number of rigorously documented cases; the actual number is larger – perhaps as large as 200,000.
Here is a view of a larger portion of the installation:
A larger segment of the installation. Stephen Schiff photo
Five distinguished speakers, starting with Ukraine’s ambassador to the US Olga Stefanishyma and followed in order by Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-NY) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Congressmen Michael McCaul (R-TX) and Jamie Raskin (D-MD) reminded the audience of a number of important facts:
Russia’s abduction of Ukrainian children is a violation of international humanitarian law, constitutes war crimes and is collectively an act of genocide;
The act is just one in a series of crimes by the Russian Federation and its immediate predecessor, the Soviet Union, designed to erase Ukraine as a nation, eliminating Ukrainian culture, language and religion, going back nearly 100 years;
As a precondition to any cease fire or end of hostilities, Russia must account for and return all kidnapped Ukrainian children; and
There is broad bipartisan support in Congress for the immediate return of the abducted Ukrainian children, and a bipartisan majority in favor of continued US support for Ukraine by means of continued and further sanctions against Russia, and financial and military support for Ukraine. At least one of the Congressional speakers called for the transfer of frozen Russian assets held in the US to Ukraine.
Below is a reversed image of the entire installation, taken from across the Mall. If this installation were extended to represent all the estimated abducted children, it would extend from the Capital building to the Washington Monument.
The event was sponsored by RAZOM for Ukraine (Razom means “Together” in Ukrainian), and the American Coalition for Ukraine. After the speeches I spoke with one of the event organizers, who expressed hope that the installation could be shown in other cities, but was concerned about the cost. RAZOM runs a wide variety of charitable programs in Ukraine, and is always in need of financial support. To find out more or to make a contribution, go to https://www.razomforukraine.org.