20,000 teddy bears highlight plight of missing Ukrainian children

An installation of 20,000 teddy bears has been placed on the National Mall in Washington DC to draw attention to Ukrainian children believed to have been taken by Russia.

The US-based Razom for Ukraine organisation and American Coalition for Ukraine installed the display to represent the estimated 20,000 children that Ukraine says have been sent illegally to Russia and Belarus since the war began five years ago. Organisers want Congress to help address what the UN has called a crime against humanity.

Russia has denied accusations of forcibly deporting children from Ukraine. Vladimir Putin has instead claimed the children were “rescued” from a war zone.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday that more than 2,100 children have been returned to their loved ones by the Bring Kids Back UA initiative, which has been tracing and returning Ukrainian children from Russian-occupied territories and Russia since 2023.

Video by Alex Foster, produced with Rebecka Pieder