Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister, Mariana Betsa, is appearing before the UK’s International Relations and Defence Committee. The founder of Save Ukraine, Mykola Kuleba, and Daria Zarivna, the advisor to the head of the office of the President of Ukraine and operations director of Bring Kids Back UA, are also in attendance.

Betsa has revealed nearly 20,000 Ukrainian children have been abducted by Russia during the war, calling it a “massive crime” committed by Russia.

“So far, we identified almost 20,000 Ukrainian children who were forcefully deported by Russia in grave breach of international law to the Russian territory.”

Kuleba, meanwhile, said that many of the children rescued have spoken about being drafted, or watched their friends be drafted, into the Russian army.

“Of that more than 600 kids who [have] been stolen and rescued, together with our partners […] 40% of all boys rescued over the past year, received draft notice for the Russian army, or had friends who did.”

25% of all those rescued, or their classmates, were forced to march and handle weapons and shoot, while every fifth rescued child had a gun pointed at them, the founder added.