Ukraine’s first lady says 19,000 children have been illegally taken by Putin to ‘wipe their memories’

Ukraine’s first lady has suggested 19,000 Ukrainian children have been “illegally taken” by Vladimir Putin to “wipe their memories to retrain them into becoming Russians”.

Olena Zelenska spoke to Good Morning Britain in an interview aired on Tuesday morning (9 May).

“This is scary, 19,000 Ukrainian children now are illegally taken to Russia, this is a lot. They are not cars, fridges, cattle. They are people, children,” she said.

“Russia is making efforts to wipe their memories to retrain them into becoming Russians.”

Ms Zelenska added thousands of Ukrainian children have been “traumatised psychologically”.

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