Children ‘deeply traumatised’ by Ukraine war, says Irish premier Harris

Children have been “deeply traumatised” by the war in Ukraine, Irish premier Simon Harris said.

Mr Harris visited the Child Rights Protection Centre (CRPC) in Kyiv on Wednesday, where Unicef is working on the reintegration of children who have been abducted in the occupied territories, some of whom have been taken to Russia and Belarus.

The project has been allocated a further two million euros (£1.7 million) as part of the Irish Government’s 36 million euro (£30.3 million) funding package announced this week.

In addition, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been allocated five million euros (£4.2 million), part of which will support high-level international interventions to reunite families with children who were forcibly deported from Ukraine.

Speaking on Wednesday, Mr Harris said “we can never let the world forget” what happened to Ukrainian citizens as a result of Russian aggression.

The Taoiseach met a mother and her three children (17, 14 and seven) who escaped Russian occupied territory but were forced to leave their father behind.

Mr Harris, who was gifted a bracelet made by Ukrainian children during a meeting with senior staff at the centre, said: “I met young children, very young children and older children – and a mother.

“All of whom had been deeply traumatised by the impact of war, violence, torture – physical and psychological.”

He added: “This is a war of real pain, of real agony and of real brutality.

“The people of Ireland stand with the people of Ukraine.”

The CRPC is designed as a space where returned children are interviewed by psychologists and prosecutors with the minimum amount of retraumatisation.

The children have access to play spaces and are interviewed in child-friendly environments.

The goal of the interviews is to secure information for future prosecutions.

Approximately 350 children have been returned so far, out of an estimated 19,500 that are either in temporarily occupied areas or Russian territory.

It is understood that a large amount of the children were formerly in institutions such as orphanages which were in areas that became occupied by Russia.

Some of the children are physically taken into Russia or other territories.

The Kyiv branch, which opened in May 2023, is the first such centre but it is understood that it is hoped that four to five other sites will open in key strategic locations.

In interviews, children who have been in the occupied territories have reported experiences where their parents have been harassed by Russian forces or detained.

Other children reported seeing their parents showing signs of torture, such as injury.