Propagandists manipulated a real headline from the BBC Russia website, altering it to spread disinformation. In truth, eleven-year-old Ilya’s testimony in The Hague recounted the tragic death of his mother during Russian shelling in Mariupol and his illegal abduction to Russia.
A screenshot allegedly showing a BBC Russia article headline titled, «My mother was killed, my father was eaten, and I was kidnapped. Ukrainian children testify against Russia in The Hague,» has been circulated by pro-Russian sources. Propagandists mocked the supposed statement with comments such as, «and they believe it,» «this boy is talking complete nonsense, they are manipulating him,» and «and was anyone raped at least?.»
However, this claim is entirely fabricated. The actual headline of the BBC Russia article was My mother was killed, and I was kidnapped. Ukrainian children testify against Russia in The Hague. There is no mention of a father allegedly «eaten by Russians» in the legitimate article. The original piece was published in September 2023, raising questions about why this fake narrative surfaced months later.
The article reports on the BringKidsBackUA information campaign held in The Hague, where six Ukrainian children, previously abducted by Russian forces and later returned home, shared their stories. Among them was Ilya, who recounted how, at the age of nine in spring 2022, his mother was killed during the shelling of Mariupol, and he sustained a leg injury. Following this, he was taken to a hospital in Donetsk, where the occupiers prevented him from contacting his grandparents and threatened to place him with a new family in Russia.
It has been confirmed that at least 20,000 Ukrainian children from occupied territories were forcibly taken to Russia, though the true number may be significantly higher. Approximately 400 of these children have been returned to Ukraine. Russia denies these allegations, framing the abductions as «rescue missions from combat zones.»
For further refutations of disinformation on child rights violations during martial law, read the article Fake: 170 Ukrainian Teenagers Went Missing in the Netherlands.
