Донецк, Мариуполь, Крым. Дети из оккупации | ПЕРЕКРЕСТОК

The heroes of the film are teenagers who grew up in territories of Ukraine occupied by Russia. They share their experiences of living under war conditions, being re-educated in schools by Russian occupation authorities, facing militarization, and undergoing forced displacement. Maria lived in Donetsk for eight years, completing school and college. Teachers pressured her, trying to re-educate her and impose a Russian identity. Students were forced to create posters in support of the Russian army. After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Maria left Donetsk, as she could no longer endure the occupation. Seventeen-year-old Sasha lived near Mariupol and witnessed the occupation and military actions. He studied in the occupied city, lived in constant fear, and was forced to leave a year later due to the threat of forced conscription into the Russian army. Fifteen-year-old Nina from the Kherson region was taken to Crimea without her mother’s consent. There, in a so-called rehabilitation center, she was forced to attend military training classes. Forced displacement and deportation are prohibited by the Geneva Convention and constitute war crimes. According to Ukrainian authorities, Russia has deported over 20,000 Ukrainian children. In 2023, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued two arrest warrants at the request of ICC prosecutor Karim Khan. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, have been charged with the war crime of deporting Ukrainian children from occupied Ukrainian territories. More than 1.5 million Ukrainian children continue to live in occupied territories, where they are systematically subjected to re-education. This violates the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by Russia in 1990, which guarantees the right to preserve national identity. However, in the occupied territories, the Ukrainian language, symbols, and culture are banned, and any expressions of Ukrainian identity are harshly suppressed, violating multiple human rights enshrined in international conventions and declarations